Somaliland elects ruling party candidate Abdi as fifth president

Somaliland's ruling party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi was on Tuesday declared the winner of the Nov. 13 presidential elections, defeating two other opposition candidates in the polls organized in all the six regions.

Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) Abdukadir Iman Warsame said Abdi garnered 350,909 votes or 55.1 percent of the total votes cast, ahead of his challengers - Abdirahman Mohamed Abdulahi Irro of Wadani Party who got 226,099 or 40.73 percent and Faysal Ali Warabe of Justice and Development Party (UCID) party received 23,141 votes or 4.1 percent.

"The winner of the presidential elections is Muse Bihi Abdi from the Kulmiye party and Abdirahman Abdulahi is his deputy from the same party," Warsameh told a news conference in Hargeisa.

Abdi becomes the fifth president of the breakaway region of Somalia. Warsame said the Nov. 13 polls saw 80 percent turnout, noting that 556,617 voters cast their vote out of the registered 704,089.

The announcement comes after the opposition candidate, Irro had on Monday said he would not recognize the results, citing massive electoral irregularities including stuffing of ballot and intimidation of party officials.

"We will not accept the election result, because it was not free and fair election, rigging of votes took place, and corruption also happened. Some of our observers were arrested, killed or injured. Even young children under the age of 15 voted, but we call for calm and peace to our supporters," said Irro.

Abdi, a former military commander and leader of the ruling Kulmire party was born in Hargeisa in 1948.

This was the third presidential election happens in the breakaway region of Somaliland, it declared independence from the rest of Somalia in 1991, but did not get any recognition so far.

Both UCID and Kulmiye competed in the 2003 and 2010 presidential elections, but this is the first election for the Wadani Party, which secured the right to field a candidate based on its performance in the 2012 local elections.

The current president, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud who has been in office since 2010, did not defend his seat. Mohamud's term ended in 2015 but his stay in office was occasioned by election delays due to lack of funds and political rifts among the leaders.

Abdi will now inherit a fragile economy which is heavily dependent on livestock exports and remittances.

source: Xinhua