Somalilandsun: Councillor Abdishakur Mahmud Hasan has been re-elected the Mayor of Berbera local council.
The mayor who is from the ruling Kulmiye party garnered 8 out of the 13 votes in the council.
Opposition Wadani party’s Councillor Nur Abdi Jama (Adde) garnered 7 votes to be elected deputy Mayor of Berbera also capital of Sahil region and home to Somaliland’s main port.
These mayoral elections were the first following the Ratification of local councils elections of 31st May 2021 by the Somaliland Supreme court.
The re-election of Mayor Abdishakur came as a shock to many in the country simply because he is a member of ruling Kulmiye party.
The council’s first session with Swearing-in of the new councillors and election of Mayor and deputy as only agenda was witnessed by the interior minister Mohamed Kahin and his Deputy as well as the governor Sahil region.
During the May elections in which kulmiye and Opposition parties UCID and Wadani each sponsored 13 candidates results released by the National Elections commission-NEC now court certified the seats were won as follows
1. KULMIYE- 6
2. WADANI- 4 and
3. UCID- 3
This outcome also mirrored in over 15 of the 20 electoral districts (local Councils) thence the UCID Wadani Opposition parties power control coalition.
According to the coalition Agreement which granted Wadani both house speaker and Hargeisa mayor, UCID was to take control of the Berbera council.
So the shock when two councillors from the opposition voted with the 6 of Kulmiye thus a win for the ruling party’s candidate.
While most have cried foul over the two voting against the opposition parties power control coalition, others are showing fears of similar in the remaining councils as well as in parliament.
With ruling Kulmiye having won 30 , Wadani 31 and UCID 21 of the 82 sets in the house of representatives the Berbera outcome gives the ruling party the impetus to have its candidate prof Yasin Faraton best his fellow Sool region MP Abdirizaq Khalif of Wadani to the position of speaker
But most of import now is the fate of the UCID-Wadani opposition parties Coalition for control local governments and parliament in Somaliland.
All in all this is why Somaliland is East Africa’s strongest Democracy
