Comoros passed a significant political milestone on January 13th 2011, when the country's Constitutional Court confirmed the results of the polls for the Union presidency, held in late December. According to the court-which ratified the results announced by the Commission électorale nationale indépendante (CENI) on December 29th-Ikililou Dhoinine, previously the Comorian vice-president and the candidate supported by the current Union president, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, and the pro-Sambi Baobab coalition, secured 61% of the vote. Mohamed Said Fazul, the president of Mohéli from 2002 to 2007 and an opponent of Mr Sambi, secured 33%, while Abdou Djabir-a civil servant who secured his place in the second-round poll after the Constitutional Court slightly altered the vote tallies from the first round of voting, moving Bianrifi Tarmidi from third to fourth place-gained 6%. Turnout across the three islands was estimated at 52.8% of registered voters.

The polls were not without their difficulties: opposition parties claim that there were numerous irregularities in the December vote, particularly on Anjouan (Mr Sambi's power base). Alleging ballot-stuffing, the theft of voting papers and harassment of opposition observers, Said Larifou, an opposition spokesman, claimed that "the chaos was orchestrated in places where the ruling party candidate wasn't doing well in order that the results might be" annulled. "These were targeted actions". Meanwhile, Mohamed Djanfaari, the leader of the opposition on Anjouan, called on the international community and the Constitutional Court to reject the results. Observers from the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and Francophonie also noted a number of problems, particularly on Anjouan, adding that CENI was "sometimes dysfunctional" and that the counting process was often opaque. Nonetheless, in a joint statement the four bodies described the poll as "generally free and fair".