Mogadishu (AX) — Galmudug’s information minister, Ali Mohamed Farah Seeko, said Saturday the state will reject any election arrangement imposed without a political deal, arguing that only a consensus-driven vote that aligns with the constitution is acceptable.
In an interview with Universal Somali TV, Ali Seeko said Galmudug does not want an election model similar to the one recently carried out in Southwest State to be introduced in the region.
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He said the state’s communities and political leaders should decide together what kind of election should be held in Galmudug.
“Galmudug administration is still insisting on previous agreements regarding the three-tier elections, namely local government elections, Galmudug administration and the federal government,” Ali Seeko said.
The minister also accused the federal government of halting an earlier effort to prepare for elections in Galmudug, saying committees had been formed and money allocated for the process.
Ali Seeko said his remarks reflect the official stance of the Galmudug administration under President Ahmed Abdi Kariye Qoor Qoor.
“An election similar to the one that took place in Southwest will not happen in Galmudug, and we will not accept it,” he said.
He further argued that the terms of federal government institutions have expired and urged Somali political actors to cooperate on an electoral process that all sides can accept.
The comments follow the federal government’s recent completion of regional elections in Southwest State, where lawmakers and a president were chosen despite objections from candidates and opposition figures who said federal authorities had shaped the process.
That election ended with Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe, the former speaker of Somalia’s House of the People, being elected regional president after frontrunner Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden withdrew, alleging breaches of agreements intended to safeguard the secrecy of the ballot.
The warning from Galmudug suggests resistance to any effort to copy the Southwest model in other federal member states, as Somalia continues to wrestle with disputes over elections, federal authority and the need for political consensus.
