Somalia’s legislators have elected former leader Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the country’s next president, following a long-overdue election on Sunday in the troubled Horn of Africa nation, reported Reuters. The voting was held in an airport hangar within the Halane military camp, where a security lockdown was imposed by authorities to prevent deadly militant attacks from Islamist insurgents.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who served as Somali president between 2012 and 2017, won the contest in the capital, Mogadishu. The first round of voting was contested by 36 participants, four of whom proceeded to the second round.
The 66-year-old, who ruled from 2012 to 2017, defeated incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, by 214-110 votes in a third-round runoff whose result was confirmed around midnight.
He was sworn in as Somalia’s president soon after the votes were counted. He will serve as the president for the next four years.
“It is indeed commendable that the president is here standing by my side, we must move forward and never backwards, we have to heal any grievances,” he said, referring to President Farmajo.
“I welcome my brother here, the new president Hassan Sheik Mohamud and wish him luck with the huge task… we will be in solidarity with him,” Farmajo said.
Somalia has not conducted a one-person, one-vote election in the last 50 years. The presidential election follow a complex indirect model, where state legislatures choose lawmakers for the national parliament, who in turn select the president.
Somalia has been reeling from a political crisis that has lasted well over a year, after Mohamed’s term ended in February 2021 without an election.
Somalia’s election was delayed by more than a year due to squabbling in government, but had to be held this month to ensure a $400 million International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
