Somalia Has Elected A New President. 

Mohamud was re-elected as president for the second time following a long-delayed election.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

According to press sources, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has been elected as Somalia’s next president, five years after being voted out.

Mohamud was re-elected president for the second time on Sunday, May 15, 2022, in the volatile Horn of Africa nation.

Following a long ballot with 36 candidates, which was televised live on state television, parliamentary authorities counted over 165 votes in favour of former President Mohamud, which was more than the amount necessary to topple incumbent President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

The candidates were chosen from a long list that included 36 names in the first round of voting.

In the last 50 years, Somalia has not had a one-person, one-vote election. Instead, polls follow a convoluted indirect approach in which state legislatures and clan delegates choose members of the national parliament, who then elect the president. A simple majority was enough to elect a winner in the third round of voting, which was determined by 328 MPs.

Analysts projected that incumbent President Mohamed, commonly known as Farmaajo due to his fondness for Italian cheese, would face a difficult re-election struggle. In Somalia, where opposing clans compete for political dominance, no sitting president has ever won re-election.

Mohamed had advanced to the third and final round, but he was anticipated to face a tough struggle from the outgoing president, Mohamud.

Mogadishu, the country’s capital, was under lockdown restrictions aimed at averting devastating rebel assaults when legislators picked the country’s next president.