After more than a year of postponements, hundreds of legislators on Sunday voted to elect Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the new Somali President to replace incumbent leader Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo. Mohamud, who previously served as Somalia’s ninth President, was defeated by Farmaajo in 2017.
39 registered candidates contested for the presidency and voting was held in a secret ballot inside the Halane military camp in Mogadishu, which was guarded was African Union peacekeepers.
The closely contested election saw three rounds of voting after no candidates were able to secure at least two-thirds of the 328 ballots in the second round. Somalia’s President is elected by members of the parliament rather than through direct voting by citizens.
Mohamud secured 214 votes while his closest rival, Farmaajo, was able to win only 110. Supporters of the new president fired guns into the air to celebrate the victory.
“Victory belongs to Somali people, and this is the beginning of the era of unity, the democracy of Somalia and the beginning of the fight against corruption,” Mohamud said during his victory speech. Noting that even though the task ahead might be daunting, he would work to improve the political and security situation in Somalia.
“I promise to build a Somalia that is in harmony with itself and is in harmony with the world.”
I congratulate the president-elect, my brother, H.E @HassanSMohamud on his election as our nation's 10th president. I urge all my fellow citizens to support & pray for his success. I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who contributed to smooth & peaceful elections.
— Mohamed Farmaajo (@M_Farmaajo) May 15, 2022
Mohamud was congratulated by outgoing President Farmaajo, who urged all Somalis to “support and pray” for the new President’s success. “I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who contributed to smooth and peaceful elections,” he added.
Somalia’s presidential election was held after 15 months of delays due to political disagreements and Farmaajo’s refusal to step down as President even after his four-year term ended in February 2021. In what was seen as a power grab, Somalia’s lower house extended Farmaajo’s by two more years immediately after his tenure was over.
The extension generated widespread outcry, both domestically and internationally. While opposition leaders called Farmaajo a “dictator,” the international community, including the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM), the United States (US), and the European Union (EU), criticised the move and mediated talks between rival factions.
Moreover, the move also fuelled sporadic bouts of violence in Mogadishu after supporters of both sides engaged in violent clashes involving heavy weaponry. The clashes later died down as both sides agreed to continue talks.
Mohamud is expected to face daunting challenges ahead as he inherits a politically unstable country, which has recently seen a spike in jihadi attacks, particularly in Mogadishu. Insurgent group Al Shabaab, whose stated aim is to overthrow the federal government and establish an Islamic state, has claimed responsibility for several of these attacks.
At least four people were killed and seven injured after an Al Shabaab suicide bombing near the Mogadishu airport last week. Somali intelligence also reported last month that the extremist group planned to assassinate Farmaajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
The US, which has been providing Somalia with weapons, assistance, and training to combat Al Shabaab, has been slowly withdrawing from the country, which has raised fears in the Horn of Africa nation that the militants could increase attacks on the capital.
Since taking office, US President Joe Biden’s administration has limited the military’s capability to launch drone strikes outside active war zones and requires strikes to be authorised by the White House. Furthermore, the US pulled back its troops stationed in Somalia.
Al Shabaab, or ‘the youth’, is an al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group formed in the early 2000s to establish an Islamic state in Somalia. The group has carried out hundreds of deadly attacks, including suicide bombings, in Somalia, Kenya, and Uganda, killing more than 4,000 civilians over the last ten years.