Comoros's 48-year-old president-elect, Ikililou Dhoinine, has a background in healthcare: he trained in Guinea as a pharmacist and is married to a public health professional who works in the country's anti-AIDS programme. In 2006 he was appointed by the outgoing president, Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, as vice-president in charge of health and finance. During the election campaign Mr Sambi gave Mr Dhoinine his imprimatur, commenting, "I have chosen him because he is the only one capable of continuing what I began. He's a patriot and an upright man who will not be tempted by corruption." Mr Dhoinine was also keen to emphasise the links between the two men, using a campaign poster with the caption "the link that reassures", and even adopting Mr Sambi's previous campaign song.

Unsurprisingly, therefore, the president-elect says that his programme will be a continuation of Mr Sambi's-that is, of "opening up to the outside world and stronger links to Comoros's traditional allies". He has also pledged to "strengthen the nation's unity and integrity", to continue putting the country's finances in order and to achieve the cancellation of its debt, as well as making efforts to attract foreign investors. This is likely to include a continued focus on Middle Eastern and other Islamic investors. Like his predecessor, Mr Dhoinine is described as a "diligent Muslim". More importantly, however, Islamic investors have proved willing to commit funds to a wide variety of projects-although progress in their implementation has on occasion proved slow, and attempts to woo Iran, in particular, opened up the presidency to accusations of religious bias.

Mr Dhoinine's close identification with his predecessor could also potentially cause problems, since it is likely to spark suspicions that Mr Sambi is simply trying to run the government from behind the scenes. Already critics of the president-elect are suggesting that he is Mr Sambi's "creation", with no personality of his own.