Abdulkadir Khalif

The Eastern Africa                        November 20, 2024

   Irro beat incumbent President Muse Bihi Abdi of the Kulmiye party and Faysal Ali Warabe of the UCID (Justice and Welfare Party) in the November 13 poll.

   Born in 1955 in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, Irro is a former government technocrat in the wider Somalia who will now become the sixth president since 1991.

   The president-elect had worked extensively for the Somali government before its collapse, first at the Settlement Development Agency (Dan-wadaagaha) in various parts of the country.

   Then, from 1981, he served in the Somali Foreign Service as the first consul in Moscow, covering the entire former Soviet Union.

   Just before the collapse of the Somali government in 1991, he was re-appointed as Somalia’s acting ambassador to the former Soviet Union.

   The president-elect is expected to bring his diplomatic experience to Somaliland.

   When the Somali government collapsed and Gen Mohamed Said Barre fled Mogadishu in January 1991, he relocated to Finland with his family, becoming an active member of the Somali diaspora community.

   Although he had promised voters to pursue Somaliland’s independence, he also profited from his rival’s erratic decisions related to it.

   Political observers like Sadik Ahmed believe that the chances of Muse Bihi’s re-election were diminished by the unpopularity of the controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) he signed with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, granting landlocked Ethiopia access to the sea in exchange for recognition of Somaliland as an independent state.

   “Muse Bihi and his Kulmiye Party were affected by a number of unpopular policies like the MoU and the war in Las Anod in 2023,” Ahmed told The EastAfrican.

   Las Anod is the area straddling Somaliland and Puntland regions of Somalia, where a local clan militia defeated Somaliland forces and demanded direct administration from Mogadishu as it pursued its autonomy.

   Irro benefited from Bihi’s failure to implement the MoU, which increased tensions with Mogadishu, as well as his inability to pacify Las Anod.

   Irro garnered 63.9 percent of the vote, while his nearest rival, Muse Bihi, got 34.8 percent. The third candidate, Faysal Ali Warabe of the UCID Party, received 0.4 percent, according to preliminary results announced by Musa Hassan Yousuf, chairman of the Somaliland National Election Commission.

   The election also determined the three most popular out of ten political associations that will serve as political parties for the next ten years. 

   Wadani –the new ruling party– emerged the most popular, followed by Kaah. Kulmiye was relegated to the third place in Somaliland’s political field.

   Irro will be deputised by Mohamed Ali Abdi also elected on the same Wadani Party ticket.

Mr Yousuf said the results will be submitted to the Somaliland Supreme Court for validation. It is expected to announce the official results in the coming days.