Abdirahman Irro has been elected as the new president of Somaliland. Presidential election was held in Somaliland on November 13. Today, Somaliland National Electoral Commission (NEC) declared Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi “Irro” of the Waddani Party as the 6th President of Somaliland and his running mate Mohamed Ali Awabdi as Vice President.
The November 13 Presidential election was contested by Kulmiye ruling party led by outgoing President Muse Bihi Abdi, Waddani party led by Abdirahman Irro and UCID party led by Faisal Ali Warabe. Abdirahman got 407,908 votes ( 63.92% of the total). Kulmiye followed with 225,519 votes (34.81%), while UCID got only 4,699 votes (0.74%).
Somaliland is known for conducting most transparent elections in the Horn of Africa. Working as a separate entity, it is internationally recognized part of Somalia. Looking for international recognition, it signed a controversial Memorandum of Understanding with Ethiopia in January this year to get recognition as a country in return for leasing coastal lands to Ethiopia. The MoU could not be implemented. Muse Bihi Abdi seems to have lost because of challenging economic conditions, security conflict in eastern zone and non implementation of MoU with Ethiopia.
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