[1][2] Since his election as President in 1999 Ismaïl Omar Guelleh has ruled Djibouti with almost unchecked power and has become increasingly authoritarian.

Additionally, during his time in office his political party, the People's Rally for Progress (RPP) and its coalition, the Union for the Presidential Majority (UMD) has been in power nearly unopposed since 1977 with their lowest support coming in 2013 with 55 of the 65 seats in parliament.

Specifically, the coalitions two largest parties, the Republican Alliance for Democracy (ARD) and the Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development (MRD) announced they would not be participating.

[3][4] The MRD has gone on to say that: "Elections in our country are still not free, not transparent and not democratic" and that "The people of Djibouti are deprived of their right to freely choose their leaders,"[3]Due to lack of opposition participation, a RPP and UMD victory is almost guaranteed, as it has been for the past 50 years.

[6][7] The elections were held using a closed list system in which 80% of seats (rounded to the nearest integer) in each constituency were awarded to the party receiving the most votes.