Five years later, he returned to power for the second time.

At the end of a poll under high security, "Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is the winner of the election for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Somalia", announced Sunday May 15 the speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nour, better known as Sheikh Adan Madobe.

This election took place after more than a year of delay in this volatile country in the Horn of Africa.

Following a marathon vote by parliamentarians, Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, president between 2012 and 2017, won against outgoing head of state Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, who had beaten him five years ago. years.

Celebratory gunfire echoed through the capital Mogadishu.

Deputies and senators first began voting on Sunday to decide between the 36 presidential candidates, under a tent placed under curfew erected in the perimeter of Mogadishu airport, where security forces are omnipresent.

Explosions were heard near the airport as voting began, a reminder of how precarious the security situation remains in the country.

However, police said no casualties were reported.

After hours of voting, broadcast on national television, the complex electoral process has entered its third and final 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 Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, consecrating his victory.

The two finalists were among the four qualified after the first round of voting.

Continuity acclaimed during the votes

Farmajo's mandate had expired in February 2021, without an agreement with regional leaders on the organization of new elections.

The two-year extension of his mandate by MPs in April 2021 had sparked fighting in Mogadishu, reviving the memory of the decades of civil war that ravaged the country after 1991. Recent months have also been marked by a growing rivalry between Farmajo and its Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, whom he had charged with organizing the elections.

"We are tired of living in uncertainty ... I hope that a president will be elected and that today will mark the end of this circus", commented to AFP on Sunday Muktar Ali, a resident of Mogadishu.

Election follows a complex indirect system, in which state assemblies and delegates from a myriad of clans and sub-clans choose the legislators who, in turn, appoint the president.

"In terms of outcomes, Somali politics is notoriously difficult to predict," says Omar Mahmood, an analyst at the International Crisis Group: "It's essentially a matter of alliances and relationships rather than programs."

In this context of instability, people tend to vote for a certain continuity, had estimated before the election Samira Gaid, executive director of the Hiraal Institute specialized in security issues.

Several crises to manage

An immense challenge now awaits Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud, as the country of 15 million people is hit by drought, famine and seemingly endless conflict.

Thus, for a year and a half, the international community has multiplied calls to complete the elections, believing that the delays diverted the authorities from the fight against the radical Islamists Shebab, affiliated with Al-Qaeda, who have been leading an insurrection in the country since 15 years old.

In recent months, the Shebab have intensified their attacks, notably carrying out a bloody double attack in the center of the country on March 24 (48 dead), then a major attack against a base of the African Union force (10 dead according to an official record).

This election will also be crucial for the economic future of Somalia, where 71% of the population lives on less than 1.90 dollars a day (1.80 euros).

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned that an aid program could automatically end on May 17 if a new administration is not in place.

The government asked, at the end of April, to postpone this deadline for three months, without answer for the moment.

The country is also facing one of the worst droughts in decades.

Humanitarian organizations fear a famine similar to that of 2011, which killed 260,000 people.

With AFP and Reuters

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