Presidential elections were held in Somaliland on 13 November 2017, the third direct presidential election since 2003. General elections had been scheduled to be held in Somaliland on 27 March 2017 to elect both the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

and

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, but were initially postponed by six months due to the drought condition in the region. The elections to elect the

and

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is o ...

were eventually held separately on 13 November. Incumbent President

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" ( so, Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Siilaanyo, ar, احمد محمد محمود سيلانيو) (born 1938) is a Somaliland politician who was President of Somaliland from 2010–2017. He is a long-time member of the go ...

of the

Peace, Unity, and Development Party The Kulmiye Peace, Unity and Development Party ( so, Xisbiga Kulmiye Nabad, Midnimo iyo Horumarka; ar, حزب التضامن), also known as simply Kulmiye (), is a political party in Somaliland. The party was founded by Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ...

(Kulmiye) did not run for a second term. The result was a victory for ruling

Kulmiye The Kulmiye Peace, Unity and Development Party ( so, Xisbiga Kulmiye Nabad, Midnimo iyo Horumarka; ar, حزب التضامن), also known as simply Kulmiye (), is a political party in Somaliland. The party was founded by Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ...

party candidate

Muse Bihi Abdi Musa Bihi Abdi ( so, Muuse Biixi Cabdi, ar, موسى بيحي عبدي) (born 1948 in Hargeisa, British Somaliland, now Somaliland) is a Somaliland politician and former military officer who has been President of Somaliland since December 2017. ...

, who received 55% of the vote.

Background

Parliamentary elections were due originally to be held in Somaliland in September 2010, and were eventually scheduled for 26 June 2015 alongside the presidential elections, but due to the unpreparedness of the National elections Committee the Guurti extended the incumbent's term for a period of 21 months in early September 2015.

Candidates

In November 2015 Kulmiye party chairman

was selected as the presidential candidate for the ruling

. Former long-time House Speaker

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi ( so, Cabdiraxmaan Maxamed Cabdillaahi Cirro, ar, عبد الرحمن محمد عبد الله) (born 24 April 1955), also known as Irro, is a Somaliland politician, who served as speaker of Somaliland House of R ...

, also known as Irro, was chosen as the candidate for the Waddani Party. The candidate for the Justice and Development was

Faysal Ali Warabe Faysal Ali Warabe ( ; so, Faysal Cali Waraabe, ar, فيصل علي ورابي; born 1948), also spelled Faisal Ali Warabe, is a Somalilander engineer and politician. He previously served as Director of Planning and Building as well as Regional D ...

, who had unsuccessfully contested the two previous presidential elections. Warabe became the party's candidate after a long legal and political challenge between Warabe and the party's original presidential candidate

Jamal Ali Hussein Jamal ( ar, جمال ''/'') is an Arabic masculine given name, meaning "beauty",Jamal
at BehindTheName.com and a surn ...

; Hussein later joined Kulmiye. Warabe's running mate was Abdi Ahmed Musa Abyan.

Conduct

Sixty international observers from over 27 countries were deployed across Somaliland to observe the elections. Seventeen of the 21 districts in Somaliland were visited by observers, with 335 of the 1,624 polling stations attended. The report by the Development Planning Unit of

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

concluded that "Throughout the election period, Somalilanders demonstrated their support for the rule of law and constitutional process, voting peacefully and in significant numbers and the mission applauds this ongoing commitment to peaceful participation in an impressively open electoral system."

Results

On 21 November the NEC announced that Muse Bihi Abdi of the ruling Kulmiye party polled 55.1% of votes to emerge winner. His closest contender was Abdirahman Irro of the Waddani party who polled 40.7% with Faysal Ali Warabe finishing last with 4.2% of votes.Somaliland ruling party candidate wins Nov. 13 polls – media reports
Africa News, 21 November 2017

By region

Aftermath

Abdi was inaugurated as president on 13 December 2017 in

Hargeisa Hargeisa (; so, Hargeysa, ar, هرجيسا) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland. It is located in the Maroodi Jeex region of the Horn of Africa. It succeeded Burco as the capital of the British Somaliland Protecto ...

References

{{Somaliland elections Elections in Somaliland Somaliland 2017 in Somaliland November 2017 events in Africa