Already president between 2012 and 2017, he won against the outgoing head of state during a complex and very high security vote.
Le Monde With AFP
Five years later, he returned to power: Somalia elected Sunday May 15 for the second time Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud at his presidency, after a high security election, in a country in the grip of Insurrection of radical Islamists Shebab and where famine threatens. At the end of a marathon vote, Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, president between 2012 and 2017, won against the outgoing head of state Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, who beat her five years ago. Celebration shots resounded in the capital Mogadiscio.
“It is really remarkable that the president is here by my side, we must go ahead and never back, we must heal our injuries,” said the new president, immediately invested, evoking his predecessor Farmajo . “I salute my brother here, the new president Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, and wish him good luck in the face of the huge task that awaits him,” said the latter, promising his “solidarity”.
36 Candidates decreed in a tent
This election took place more than a year late in this unstable country of the Horn of Africa shaken by a long political crisis, which also suffers from a historic drought. The deputies and senators first started to vote on Sunday to decide between the 36 presidential candidates, in a tent placed under curfew erected within the perimeter of Mogadiscio airport, where the security forces are omnipresent.
Explosions have been heard near the airport when the vote was starting, recalling how precarious the security situation remains in the country. Police say no victim, however, has been reported. After hours of election, broadcast on national television, the electoral process complex entered its third and last phase with the two candidates still in the running, outgoing president Farmajo and his predecessor Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, as five years ago.
During this final vote, the officials of the Parliament counted more than 165 votes in favor of Mr. Mohamoud, devoting his victory. The two finalists were one of the four qualified after the first ballot. 2> a year of political crisis
Farmajo’s mandate had expired in February 2021, without agreement with regional leaders on the organization of new elections. The extension of two years of his mandate by the deputies in April 2021 had triggered fighting in Mogadiscio, reviving the memory of the decades of civil war which have ravaged the country after 1991. In recent months have also been marked by a growing rivalry between Farmajo And his Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, whom he had responsible for organizing the elections.
The election follows an indirect system complex, in which the assemblies of states as well as delegates invested by a myriad of clans and sub-clans choose the legislators who, in turn, designate the president.
For a year and a half, the international community has multiplied the calls to complete the elections, believing that the delays diverted the authorities from the fight against radical Islamists Chabab, affiliated with Al-Qaida, who lead an insurrection in the country For 15 years.
In recent months, the Chabab have intensified their attacks, leading in particular a bloody double attack in the center of the country on March 24 (48 dead), then a major attack against a base of the force of the African Union (10 dead according to an official assessment).