Somalia's Supreme Court annuls Galmudug election results and orders a fresh vote

Somalia's Federal Supreme Court on Monday annulled the results of last month's Galmudug state elections and ordered a fresh vote, ruling that the ballot fell short of the standards set by the constitution and the electoral law.

Chief Justice Baashe Yuusuf Axmed, delivering the judgment in Mogadishu, said the 30 July elections for the Galmudug House of Representatives and the state's local councils were not administered in line with the constitution and the electoral law, and that the results therefore carried no legal validity.

The court found that irregularities during the process had damaged the independence, freedom and fairness of the vote, and that they had affected its outcome. The flaws were too serious to be cured by a partial correction, the judgment said, leaving a full rerun as the only available course.

The Supreme Court directed the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to organise new elections for both bodies at the earliest reasonable opportunity, in compliance with the federal constitution, the electoral law and the legislation governing political parties. Galmudug's existing institutions remain in office until legally elected successors take their seats. Each party was ordered to bear its own legal costs.

The 30 July ballot was Galmudug's first direct, one-person-one-vote election, held across 11 districts in the Mudug and Galgaduud regions.

On 4 August the commission declared the Justice and Solidarity Party, the party of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the winner with 63 seats. It placed Towfiq second on 12, Sincad on six, Karaama on five, and Ramaas, Madalsan and Saab on one each.

Towfiq rejected that count, accused the commission of manipulating the vote and breaching agreed procedures, and said it had in fact won 47 seats. The party was among the groups that carried the dispute to the Supreme Court.

Towfiq's chairman, Sheikh Shakir, welcomed the ruling at a news conference on Monday, saying his party had spent eight months arguing for an election run on proper electoral principles and that the judgment had vindicated that campaign. He urged supporters to receive the decision calmly and to avoid anything that might cause disorder, and called on the federal government and the security forces to safeguard public safety.

The ruling lands in an already strained relationship between Mogadishu and Galmudug's leadership. In June the prime minister, Hamza Abdi Barre, travelled to the state to broker a settlement over its leadership, in talks centred on a transfer of authority to Liban Ahmed Hassan.

Reaction inside the winning party was not uniform. Kaab TV reported that JSP lawmakers were divided, with some criticising the chief justice and questioning why the court had overturned a vote they regarded as properly run, and others welcoming the intervention.

No date has been set for the rerun.