Republic of Djibouti on 28 May by the Chamber of Deputies. It remained so until 1999. After the attack on the "Zinc Palm" in December 1977, it banned the main opposition party, the MPL, and established a one-party system. Presidency 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. As the RPP candidate, he was elected without opposition for a six-year term as President on 12 June 1981, receiving 84.58% of the vote. 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. Gouled was reelected for a fourth term in May 1993 with 60.7% of the vote. In the 1990s, the Djibouti economy deteriorated dramatically, with net external assets falling by 40 per cent. 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. During this period, Hassan Gouled's nephew Ismaïl Omar Guelleh not only maneuvered to be his successor, but increasingly came to handle affairs for the elderly Hassan Gouled. 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. Guelleh won the presidential election held in April 1999 and succeeded his uncle on 8 May 1999. Gouled Aptidon died at his home on 21 November 2006, aged 90. Gouled's first wife, former First Lady Aicha Bogoreh, a proponent of women's rights and various charities, died in 2001. He married his second wife after Bogoreh's death. Honours Foreign honours : Honorary Recipient of the Order of the Crown of the Realm (1998) References External links page on the French National Assembly website page on the French Senate website 1915 births 2006 deaths People from Awdal Union for the New Republic politicians People's Rally for Progress politicians Presidents of Djibouti Prime Ministers of Djibouti French Senators of the Fourth Republic Senators of French East Africa Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the