'Farmaajo' elected as Somalia's new president

Formerly US-based politician 'Farmaajo' has been voted as president of Somalia with 88 out of 209 votes in the second round of the election on Wednesday.

MENA

3 min read

Robert Cusack

08 February, 2017

Somali lawmakers voted for a new leader of Somalia under tight scrutiny on Wednesday [Anadolu]

Formerly US-based Somali politician Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed - nicknamed 'Farmaajo' - was elected the new president of Somalia on Wednesday, in an all-day election process involving 329 Somali lawmakers amid tight security.

Somali lawmakers gathered to vote for a new president at Aden Adde airport near Mogadishu, following numerous delays over security fears and months of postponements.

The initial election process called for three rounds of voting, however, this was not required after two MPs dropped out of the running after receiving the fewest votes.

Four MPs were chosen out of 21 to go through to the second round after the first round of voting concluded, following almost two hours of voting.

The four MPs included the previous president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the previous Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, former Prime Minister Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed 'Farmaajo' and former President Shariif Sheekh Ahmed.

Omar Sharmarke subsequently conceded defeat after the results of the first round were announced, due to receiving the fewest votes.

Farmaajo was announced president at around 4.30pm GMT, after the second place winner of the second round, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, also conceded defeat.

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The African Union's [AU] peace-keeping force in Somalia, AMISOM and Somali National Security Forces maintained an increased security presence across the country on the day, to minimise the threat of attacks from the Islamist group al-Shabaab.

"In addition to ensuring security, the AU joins the international community as election observers, reiterating unwavering support for Somalia," a statement from AMISOM said.

Results from the first round of voting

Results from the second round of voting

Candidate	Number of votes
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud	88 votes
Mohamed A. 'Farmaajo'	72 votes
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed	49 votes
Omar Abdirashid	37 votes

Candidate	Number of votes
Mohamed A. 'Farmaajo'	88 votes
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud	72 votes
Sharif Sheikh Ahmed	49 votes

All major roads were closed across the country and a total traffic ban was enforced by security agents in Mogadishu.

All flights in and out of Aden Adde airport were cancelled.

AMISOM reported a high-level of scrutiny and independent monitoring at this year's elections to improve trust in the results and a life-feed of the election can be seen at the bottom of this article.

The AU's special representative to Somalia, Francisco Madeira, was responsible for witnessing the election, with other members of the international community.

According to the rules of the election, no-one in the election room was allowed to carry a mobile phone of any kind, or cash in excess of $200.

Sixteen of the 21 candidates who stood for election hold foreign passports, reported local media service Wakiil, including nine American, four British and three Canadian passports.

Follow a live video feed of the election here: