Djibouti holds presidential election with longtime ruler favored for a sixth term

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Voters in the small Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti cast ballots to elect their president on Friday, with longtime leader Ismaïl Omar Guelleh expected to secure a sixth term in office after lawmakers scrapped presidential age limits last year.

Guelleh, 78, has ruled the country of about 1 million for more than two decades. The results of the 2021 election showed him winning nearly 99% of the vote.

He faces a single challenger, Mohamed Farah Samatar, a former ruling party member, in a race analysts say offers little genuine competition. Opposition groups frequently boycott elections, citing restrictions on political freedoms.

Guelleh succeeded his uncle, former President Hassan Gouled Aptidon, in 1999, extending a family-led system that has shaped the country’s politics for decades.

Regional observers from the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development monitored the vote.

Election results are expected to be announced within one or two days.

“The scrapping of term limits in Djibouti is less about electoral competition and more about preserving regime continuity in a highly strategic state," Mohamed Husein Gaas of the Raad Peace Research Institute told The Associated Press.

"While it raises concerns about democratic backsliding, external actors are likely to prioritize stability given Djibouti’s critical role in Red Sea security and global trade routes, especially amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East,” he said.

Djibouti hosts multiple foreign military bases, including those of the U.S., China, France and Japan, underscoring its strategic importance along a key global shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Revenues from these arrangements, along with port services for neighboring Ethiopia, underpin the economy.

But that model leaves Djibouti exposed to external shocks. It depends heavily on Ethiopia’s use of its ports, while global disruptions — including Red Sea shipping insecurity — pose risks to revenue.

Djibouti's incumbent President Ismail Omar Guelleh casts his vote at the City Hall polling station during the presidential election in Mouloud, Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

A woman casts her vote at a polling station during early voting in the presidential elections, in Mouloud, Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

People line up to vote at a polling station during the 2026 Djibouti presidential election, in Mouloud, Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

Women cast their votes at a polling station during the Djibouti presidential elections in Mouloud, Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

People line up to vote at a polling station during the 2026 Djibouti presidential election, in Mouloud, Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

A man casts his vote at a polling station during early voting in the presidential elections at Mouloud, in Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

A woman casts her vote at a polling station during early voting in the presidential elections at Mouloud, in Djibouti, Friday, April 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Guirreh Moumin)

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk announced plans Wednesday for one of the biggest sales of stock to the public ever for his space company that is currently losing billions of dollars year.

A filing Wednesday shows Musk’s SpaceX lost $2.6 billion from operations last year on $18.7 billion in revenue, and the losses kept piling up at the start of this year, too.

The prospectus did not put a dollar figure on the amount Musk hopes to raise but various reports have put it at $75 billion or so. An offering of that size would easily surpass the current title holder, Saudi Aramco, the oil giant that went public seven years ago and raised $26 billion.

SpaceX, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has said the money will help to finance projects to put men on the moon and maybe someday Mars in its quest to make humans an intergalactic species as they face existential threats that could wipe out civilization.

“We do not want humans to have the same fate as dinosaurs,” the filing stated.

The stock sale could also make Musk, a major owner who founded SpaceX in 2002, the world’s first trillionaire. Forbes currently puts Musk's net worth at $839 billion.

In addition to making reusable rockets to hurl astronauts into orbit, SpaceX has other businesses, some successful, some struggling — and with plenty of questions marks.

The document showed Starlink, the world’s largest satellite communications company, is a big cash generator for the company, generating $4.4 billion in operating income last year. The business uses 10,000 satellites in low orbit to provide internet service to 10 million people in 150 countries and territories.

Among the struggling business are two Musk units that were recently acquired by SpaceX — his social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and his artificial intelligence business, xAI. Those purchases were blasted by some SpaceX investors as bailouts because the businesses are big money losers.

The prospectus said its AI business lost $6.4 billion in operations last year.

The original SpaceX business, making rockets and staging launches, has been helped by massive government contracts, which themselves raises questions that could come back to haunt the company. Given Musk’s close relation to the Trump administration, government ethics lawyers and watchdogs have asked if he has gotten special treatment to win taxpayer money and whether that good luck will run out once President Donald Trump is out office.

SpaceX has won contracts worth $6 billion from NASA and the Defense Department and other government agencies in the past five years, according to USAspending.gov. The company notes in its filing that a fifth of its revenue last year was attributable to the federal government.

Musk was the biggest donor to Trump’s presidential campaign and is still a big backer despite their sometimes rocky relationship after his stewardship of the government cost-cutting effort called DOGE early last year.

The document also shows Musk will be able to exert big control over the business.

It says Musk and certain other shareholders will receive shares in a special class of stock that gives them 10 votes for each share they hold. Those shareholders will be able, among other things, to elect a majority of the company’s board of directors.

“This will limit or preclude your ability to influence corporate matters and the election of our directors,” SpaceX said in a warning to prospective investors.

SpaceX will be able to pitch the offering to investors -- in what’s known in Wall Street parlance as a “road show” -- 15 days after making its prospectus public. In this case, that works out to June 4.

FILE - Elon Musk attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

SpaceX's latest version of it's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)