Presidential elections were held in

Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, E ...

on 13 November 2017, the third direct presidential election since 2003. General elections had been scheduled to be held in

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: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

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

, 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 or 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 vi ...

were eventually held separately on 13 November. Incumbent President

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud (, ; 1 June 1938 – 15 November 2024), known by his nickname Silanyo (), was a Somaliland politician who served as the President of Somaliland from 2010 to 2017. During the 1980s, he also served as the Chairman of the ...

of the

Peace, Unity, and Development Party The Kulmiye Peace, Unity and Development Party (; ), also known as simply Kulmiye (), is a political party in Somaliland. The party was founded by Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" in May 2002, ahead of the first 2002 Somal ...

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

Kulmiye The Kulmiye Peace, Unity and Development Party (; ), also known as simply Kulmiye (), is a political party in Somaliland Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised country ...

party candidate

Muse Bihi Abdi Musa Bihi Abdi (, ; born 16 June 1948) is a Somaliland politician and former military officer who served as the 5th President of Somaliland from 2017 to 2024. During the 1970s, he served as a pilot in the Somali Air Force under the Siad Barr ...

, who received 55% of the vote.

Background

Parliamentary elections were due originally to be held in

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 (, ; born 24 April 1956), colloquially known as Irro (), is a Somaliland politician and diplomat who has been the 6th and current President of Somaliland since 12 December 2024. Abdirahman served as speaker of t ...

, also known as Irro, was chosen as the candidate for the

Waddani The Somaliland National Party (), sometimes referred to as the Waddani National Party and better known by its shortened Somali form Waddani (stylised in all caps), is a political party in Somaliland. The party was founded by Abdirahman Mohamed A ...

Party. The candidate for the Justice and Development was

Faysal Ali Warabe Faysal Ali Warabe ( ; , ; born 1948), also spelled Faisal Ali Warabe, is a Somaliland engineer and politician. He previously served as Director of Planning and Building as well as Regional Director of Somalia's Ministry of Public Works. Additiona ...

, 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 Jamaal ( ''/'') is an Arabic given name and surname meaning "beauty."Jamaal
at BehindTheName.com It is popular in th ...

; 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 University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

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 received 55% of the vote to emerge as the winner. His closest contender was Abdirahman Irro of the Waddani party who received 41% with Faysal Ali Warabe finishing last with 4%.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 ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a ''List of states with limited recognition, de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also th ...

References

{{Somaliland elections Elections in Somaliland