WADDANI, KAAH and KULMIYE become the only mandated official political parties to operate in the country for a decade to come
The court was thus obligated to validate and approve the NEC declaration of the election results hence pave the way for the inauguration
By M.A. Egge
The Supreme Constitutional Court of the Republic of Somaliland has approved the official results of the 2024 Somaliland presidential and vice-presidential elections and the political parties’ election held on the 13th November 2024 on Wednesday that was officially preliminarily declared and announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).
The presidential elections saw a repeat scenario of the 2017 race which this time had the Waddani flagbearer Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro defeat the incumbent president of Kulmiye party and Feisal Ali of Ucid.
It also on Saturday moved in a similar resort to ratify the political parties and organizations elections which was also held on the same day.
The constitution demands that political organizations compete each decade to have the mandated three official political parties have operational mandate for the ten-year period.
Seven political organizations joined the fray to challenge the WADDANI, KULMIYE and UCID political parties for the mandate.
The preliminary results now ratified by the Supreme Court has the UCID party loose its stature as a political and has been replaced by the new entrant KAAH which has triumphed as the first runner up.
WADDANI and KULMIYE have both successfully defended their mandates with WADDANI getting the top spot and Kulmiye becoming the second runner-up.
WADDANI garnered 34.29%, KAAH 20.85% and Kulmiye got 17.14%.
Others are Horseed 12.40%, Hilaac 9.44%, Barwaaqo2.67%, Ucid 1.60%, Talowadaag 0.96%, Rejo 0.33% and Shacabka with 0.32%.
In other words, KAAH graduates from being a political organization to an official political party.
As per constitution, upon declaring the results the (NEC) has a window of period to forward the provisional results to the apex court, who in turn have a stipulated time frame to wait for any complaints arising thereof, if any, to dispense with.
Given the fact that no elections complaints were lodged during the legal time frame to facilitate any appeals, the court was thus obligated to validate and approve the NEC declaration of the election results hence pave way for the inauguration of the triumphant Presidential election winner, President-elect Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro.
The Chief Justice who is also the President of the Constitutional Court, Hon. Adan Haji Ali, declared the official results of the presidential and vice-presidential elections in an approval that had the entire Supreme Court bench of all judges sitting in session for the approval.
They noted that the approval of the official results of the said elections of national organizations and parties, within the legal period allowed by law, was to end on Saturday, the 30th of the month; but since the period of lodging complaints had lapsed, they had no otherwise but inclined to approve the results as obligated.
A circular from the court read; “The Supreme Constitutional Court has approved the provisional results of the presidential and vice-presidential elections by the Electoral Commission as follows:
Waddani Party received 407,409 votes, equivalent to 63.92%.
Kulmiye Party received 225,519 votes, equivalent to 35.34%.
Ucid Party received 4699 votes, equivalent to 0.74%.
“The Supreme Constitutional Court also approved the presidential election results as having been won by Mr. Abdirahman Mohamed Abdilaahi Cigaal, while the vice-presidential election was won by Mr. Mohamed Ali Abdi Mohamud, both candidates from the Waddani Party.
“The announcement of the official election results was witnessed by the following Judicial Commissions:
- Adam Haji Ali Ahmed: – Chairman
- Mohamed Omar Gelle: – Member
- Abdikadir Ahmed Mahmoud: – Member
- Ahmed Diiriye Qalib: – Member
- Mohamed Farah Saeed: – Member
- Abdirahman Hussein Aynaan: – Member
- Ali-shu’ayb Sh. Ibrahim Nur: – Member
- Yahya Ali Idris: – Member
- Abdilaahi Abdi Adam: – Member
- Abdirahman Hassan Nuur: – Member
Clerk: Sahra Ismail Abdilahi”.
Despite the legal procedures as per the constitutional obligations, the incumbent President H.E. Musa Bihi Abdi had already congratulated his successor for his triumphant win and called on the populaces to abide by the results and support the new administration.
Similarly, hundreds of congratulations have been heaped upon the incoming Presidents by foreign heads of state, ambassadors, diplomats, eminent personalities from within the country and abroad and the citizenry alike.