On August 3, Somaliland’s House of Representatives elected a new speaker in elections marred by mayhem in Hargeisa.
Abdirizak Khalif, who is from the opposition Waddani Party, emerged victorious in the chaotic elections.
He garnered 42 votes while his opponent, Yasin Faraton, got 39 votes. Faraton, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, is from the ruling Kulmiye Party.
The former foreign affairs minister is a close ally of the incumbent President Muse Bihi Abdi, who also doubles as Kulmiye Party’s de facto leader.
Faraton’s loss to Khalif is a double blow to Bihi’s party, which lost parliamentary polls to the opposition in May this year. His party unsuccessfully fought to win the speaker’s elections.
Speaker Khalif is a former minister in the administration of ex-President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Silanyo. He’s a businessman who only entered the world of politics in 2009.