Opposition’s Abdullahi wins presidential election in breakaway Somaliland

‘Irro’ took over 60 percent of the vote having pledged to push efforts to gain international recognition for the region.

Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, leader of Somaliland’s opposition, has been elected president of the breakaway region of Somalia, according to reports.

Abdullahi – also known as Irro – of the Waddani Party received close to 64 percent of the vote, beating the incumbent, President Muse Bihi Abdi of the Kulmiye Party, the Somaliland National Electoral Commission (NEC) said on Tuesday, according to local media and The Associated Press news agency.

Voters in Somalia’s breakaway region cast their ballot last week in an election that was delayed for two years due to lack of funding and other reasons.

Abdi, who was seeking a second term after seven years in office, trailed badly with about 35 percent of the vote.

Both candidates had campaigned promising they would resuscitate an ailing economy and push efforts to gain international recognition for Somaliland.

Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991 as Somalia descended into conflict, has built a stable political environment, in sharp contrast to Somalia’s security struggles.

The self-proclaimed republic sustains its own government, currency and security structures. However, it is not recognised by any country in the world, restricting access to international finance and the ability of its six million people to travel.

The government in the capital, Hargeisa, hopes to soon finalise a controversial deal that would grant neighbouring Ethiopia sea access. In return, Addis Ababa would provide an “in-depth assessment” of recognition.

The deal aroused fury in Somalia, which views it as a violation of its sovereignty, and prompted fears of conflict.

Ethiopia is a major contributor to a peacekeeping force in Somalia, fighting against armed groups there. But the agreement has drawn Somalia closer to Ethiopia’s historical rivals, Egypt and Eritrea.

Somaliland is also optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will revisit the United States’s longstanding recognition of Mogadishu’s sovereignty over Somaliland.

Several leading US Department of State officials who worked on Africa policy during Republican leader Donald Trump’s first term have publicly voiced support for recognising Somaliland.