MORONI, Comoros — Voters on the tiny archipelago of Comoros went to the polls on Sunday, with President Azali Assoumani widely expected to win a new term in an election that rivals say has been hijacked.

The main opposition alleged that irregularities at several polling stations reported by the electoral commission amounted to a “coup d’etat” and called for public “resistance”.

“We candidates declare the current government illegitimate... (we) call on the people to resist and mobilise against it,” the head of the Union of the Opposition group, former deputy president Soihili Mohamed told journalists on Moroni island.

Some 300,000 voters were expected to turn out.

Azali confirmed but played down sporadic incidents after voting at a school in Mitsoudje on the main island Grande Comore.

“I’ve been told there have been some problems — it’s not a surprise,” said Azali.

“We were aware during the campaign there are some people who were not out there to win but to prevent the vote taking place.

“The situation is under control”, he said, adding he was “confident” of winning.

An electoral commission official told AFP a dozen booths had been vandalized on Anjouan while witnesses said several stuffed ballot boxes had been found and some opposition poll assessors had been prevented from going about their duties.

“Given that my delegates have been prevented from entering polling stations ... I shall never recognize the results,” said Mahamoudou Ahamada, candidate of opposition party Juwa after voting on Grande Comore.

“We need real change in this country, not empty words. We need peace, security and progress,” said Mohamed Chaine, 38, an early voter in the capital Moroni.

“I hope my choice will be respected,” said Allaoui Elarif, 70. “I don’t expect any trouble, demonstrations here. It is afterwards, at the election commission where I am afraid they will cheat.”

Huge campaign posters emblazoned with the face of Azali, 60, cover the whitewashed walls in the capital Moroni and line roads on the three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli.

The Supreme Court has barred some of Azali’s major rivals, including former president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, accused of corruption, from running.

In a pre-election visit to Anjouan, Azali oozed confidence and burst out laughing when asked about defeat.

“That’s a question I won’t answer. When you set out to do something, you do it to win!” he said.

The mainly-Muslim Indian Ocean archipelago of 800,000 people is one of the world’s poorest and most coup-prone states.

It has suffered more than 20 successful or attempted power grabs since gaining independence from France in 1975. Its first leader, Ahmed Abdallah, lasted barely a month before being ousted. — AFP