Somalia handed Hassan Sheikh Mohamud the presidency for a second time following Sunday’s long-overdue election in the Horn of Africa nation, which is confronting an Islamist insurgency and the threat of famine.
After a marathon poll involving 36 candidates that was broadcast live on state TV, parliamentary officials counted 214 votes in favor of former president Mohamud, far more than the number required to defeat the incumbent, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as “Farmaajo.”
Celebratory gunfire erupted in the capital, Mogadishu, with many hoping that the vote would draw a line under a political crisis that has lasted more than a year, after Farmaajo’s term ended in February last year without an election.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Mohamud, who was president from 2012 to 2017, was sworn in shortly after the votes were counted and struck a conciliatory tone as he addressed the country.
“It is indeed commendable that the president is here standing by my side. We must move forward and never backward. We have to heal any grievances,” he said, referring to Farmaajo, who hailed the successful completion of the long-awaited poll.
“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,” Farmaajo said.
Somalia’s international partners had repeatedly warned that the election delays — caused by political infighting — were a dangerous distraction from the fight against al-Shabaab insurgents who have been fighting to overthrow the government for more than a decade.
In a reminder of the country’s treacherous security situation, explosions were on Sunday heard near Mogadishu’s heavily guarded airport complex where lawmakers were voting.
Police said that no casualties were reported in the blasts.
Somalians have not directly voted for a president in 50 years. Instead, polls follow an indirect model, in which state legislatures and clan delegates pick lawmakers for the national parliament, who in turn select the president.
Samira Gaid, executive director of the Mogadishu-based Hiraal Institute think tank, said ahead of the election that familiar names would enjoy an advantage in the polls.
“People will not go for a new face. They will definitely go for old faces, people that they recognize and people that they feel they’re more comfortable with,” she said.
The first Somalian president to win a second term, Mohamud has promised to transform Somalia into “a peaceful country that is at peace with the world.”
He inherits several challenges from his predecessor, including a devastating drought that threatens to drive millions into famine.
UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe unless early action is taken, with emergency workers fearing a repeat of the devastating 2011 famine, which killed 260,000 people — half of them children under the age of six.
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