The election of six seats in the Upper House of the Northern Regions in Somalia has recently ended, with some well-known officials vying for Villa Somalia.
Seat 1: Former Speaker of the Upper House, Mr. Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, was elected, following the resignation of his rival Said Omar Hussein, who had registered to run in the Somaliland elections the night before. Abdi Hashi was then given a show of hands, receiving 44 votes, according to the Northern Electoral Commission.
The result was a foregone conclusion, with Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, a four-year speaker of the Upper House, expected to emerge.
The 2nd seat was won by Salah Ahmed Jama, and was contested by the Minister of Constitution of the Federal Government of Somalia, Salah Ahmed Jama and the former Chairman of the Supreme Court, Ibrahim Idle Suleiman.
Minister of Constitution Salah Ahmed Jama received the second seat with 29 votes, while the former Chief Justice received 12 votes.
3rd seat: Prof. Abdi Ismail Samatar was elected, and he competed with Prof. Mohamed Mohamud Allabari and Abdirahman Osman Ali, who remained in the first round. In the second round of the election, Prof. Abdi Ismail Samatar and Prof. Mohamed Mohamud Allabari received 25 votes for Prof. Samatar, while 21 votes for the candidate.
Seat 4: Somalia’s Minister of Information, Osman Abukar Dubbe, was elected by Abdikarin Mohamed Hassan, defeating Dubbe by 28 votes, while the other candidate received 17 votes. Dubbe has faced stiff competition from Abdikarin Mohamed Hassan from Villa Somalia to defeat Dubbe’s election, which has recently become increasingly ideological.
Seat 5: Won by Leylo Ahmed Ismail, who would run against Mohamed Mohamud Abdi who later gave up on Leylo, receiving a show of hands with 30 votes, while 6 others abstained.
Seat 6: Bilal Idris Abdillahi won the seat he was sitting in, receiving 37 votes. Bilal was running against Seynab Ahmed Boqore for the seat, which received only 8 votes. Today’s election concludes with the election of six senators, with five more seats remaining, out of the 11 seats in the northern states representing the Upper House.
Apart from Minister Salah, the other six senators included those who fought against Villa Somalia but failed, namely Dubbe and Prof. Samatar. And those who did not fight but did not agree, namely, Bilal, Layla and Abdi Hashi.
Although Minister Salah is counted on Farmajo’s side, some reports say he is neutral.
The election of the Upper House in Mogadishu and the regional administrations will be remembered as a defeat for Villa Somalia, and so far only three senators who support it are known to have emerged.