Comoro islanders vote for presidents

Former military ruler Assoumani stood down in January

People on two of the three Comoro Islands have voted in the first round of elections for their respective presidents.

The elections are being held on Moheli, where voters have seven candidates to choose from, and Anjouan, which has a field of six candidates.

The vote is reported to have passed off peacefully.

The elections are being held under a peace plan creating new institutions to resolve years of crisis in the archipelago.

Instability

New constitutions provided for each of the three islands to have its own president and greater autonomy within the renamed Union of the Comoros.

In January, the archipelago's former military ruler, Colonel Azali Assoumani, stepped down to run for president in the largest of the three islands, Grande Comore.

But while Anjouan and Moheli have accepted their new constitutions, voters in Grande Comore rejected theirs in a referendum last month.

The vote lead to the indefinite postponement of the presidential election on Grande Comore.

There have been more than 20 coups or attempted takeovers since independence from France in 1975 - the latest on 19 December.