Monday August 3, 2026
Somalia’s ruling Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) dominated Galmudug’s first one-person, one-vote local council elections, capturing more than half of all valid ballots and the largest number of seats, according to official results released Monday.
National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NIEBC) Chairman Abdikarim Ahmed Hassan said the election produced 189 local council members from 193,451 valid votes cast across Galmudug.
JSP, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, won 135,247 votes—more than half the total—and secured 63 council seats, establishing itself as the election’s leading political organization.
Towfiiq finished second with 26,003 votes and 12 seats. Sincad took six seats after receiving 12,862 votes, while Karaamo won five seats with 10,668 votes.
Abdikarim said the figures represented the results of voting held in participating districts, where several political organizations competed for council positions.
The vote represents a major step in Somalia’s democratization drive. Galmudug is now the second federal member state to choose local councils through universal suffrage under the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, following earlier direct elections in the Banadir region. The process is part of the federal government’s wider effort to move away from Somalia’s longstanding clan-based indirect electoral model and establish a system grounded in universal suffrage.
Several political organizations that took part in the elections, however, have questioned how the vote was conducted and how ballots were counted.
People familiar with the discussions said opposition groups were consulting over possible responses, though they had not released a joint statement disputing the results.
The electoral commission has not issued a public response to the complaints.
The outcome is expected to influence the next stage of Galmudug’s political transition. The newly elected local councils will be central to building state institutions as Somalia expands its one-person, one-vote electoral system.
