Hassan Gouled Aptidon (Somali: Xasan Guuleed Abtidoon; Arabic: حسن جوليد أبتيدون; October 15, 1916 – November 21, 2006) was the first President of Djibouti from 1977 to 1999.

Hassan Gouled campaigned against Mahamoud Harbi Farah of the Union Republicaine party, who sought to join the territory with neighboring Somalia.

After the attack on the "Zinc Palm" in December 1977, it banned the main opposition party, the MPL, and established a one-party system.

President of Djibouti Government Parliamentary election Familiy In 1981, Hassan Gouled turned the country into a one party state by declaring that his party, the People's Rally for Progress (Rassemblement populaire pour le progrès, RPP), was the sole legal one.

[3] After the start of the Djiboutian Civil War in 1991, he allowed for a constitutional referendum on multiparty politics in September 1992, with four parties being permitted.

In the parliamentary elections held in December 1992, only two parties competed, and the RPP won all 65 seats in the National Assembly.

The World Bank issued "a correspondingly gloomy and highly critical" assessment, mentioning such social problems as the excessive consumption of the addictive and debilitating drug qat by Djibouti's citizens.

[5] On 4 February 1999, Gouled Aptidon announced that he would retire at the time of the next election, and an extraordinary congress of the RPP, the party chose Guelleh as its presidential candidate.