Local News
Liban Ahmed Hassan elected State Leader of Galmudug
The new State Leader won 72 votes in the Galmudug House of Representatives and pledged to be a leader for every resident and every party in the state.
Dhusamareeb (SONNA) - Liban Ahmed Hassan has been elected State Leader of Galmudug by members of the Galmudug House of Representatives, winning 72 votes in the vote held in Dhusamareeb.
His rival, Abdulkadir Abdullahi Diriye, received 14 votes, and 3 votes were invalid, the Speaker of the Galmudug House of Representatives, Hussein Mohamed Nur, announced. Of the 89 members of the House, all took part, casting 86 valid votes.
The vote follows Galmudug’s repeat one person one vote elections to the state House of Representatives and local councils, held on 30 September and conducted by the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NIEBC). The newly elected members were sworn in earlier this month and elected Hussein Mohamed Nur as Speaker, with Abdullahi Ahmed Ali and Mursal Abdi Adan as Deputy Speakers.
Addressing the House shortly after the result was announced, the new State Leader said the victory belonged to Galmudug and to its people, including the women and young people who had stood in the sun for long hours to vote in the two rounds of elections. He thanked the members of the House for the majority they had given him, and the scholars, elders, traditional leaders and business community of the state.
He thanked the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission for the way it conducted an election that had to be held twice, and the outgoing State Leader, Ahmed Abdi Karie, whom he credited with making a peaceful, credible and democratic election possible. He also thanked the political parties that had contested the election, and his rival in the vote, who he said had competed well.
The new State Leader said the office had been sought by many and that he would serve as the leader of every resident of Galmudug, with his door open to all the parties and to every member of the public.
He said he would rely on God in carrying out the commitments he had made during the election, and expressed hope that he would be able to fulfil them for the people of Galmudug.
