Electoral Commission Accepts Court Ruling Cancelling Galmudug Vote, Pledges Rerun

GOOBJOOG NEWS | MOGADISHU: The National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NIEBC) has formally accepted a Supreme Court ruling annulling the results of the July 30 Galmudug elections and said it will announce a new date for the polls.

In a statement dated August 25, the commission said it had received copies of the Supreme Court judgments issued on August 24 concerning the simultaneous elections for the Galmudug State Assembly and local councils.The commission said it recognised the constitutional authority of the Supreme Court, the supremacy of the law and the requirement that electoral disputes be resolved through established judicial procedures.

“Considering the constitutional role of the Supreme Court, the supremacy of the law and that electoral disputes should be resolved through a legal judicial process… the Commission accepts the decision of the Supreme Court,” the statement said.The NIEBC added that it would subsequently announce when the rerun elections would take place, effectively beginning the process of implementing the court’s order.

The announcement comes a day after the Supreme Court invalidated the July 30 election results after finding that the polls had not been administered or conducted in accordance with Somalia’s Constitution and electoral laws. The court said irregularities in the process had seriously affected the transparency, freedom and fairness of the elections and ordered fresh polls.

The ruling overturned an election in which the Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP), associated with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, had emerged as the dominant force. Results announced by the electoral commission gave JSP 63 of the 89 seats in the Galmudug State Assembly, while Tawfiiq won 12, San’ad six, Karama five and Ramas one. JSP also secured the largest number of local council seats.

The July 30 vote was conducted under the one-person, one-vote system across 11 districts in Galmudug. The commission reported 197,971 ballots cast, making the election another major test of Somalia’s transition from the longstanding indirect electoral model towards direct voting.However, the outcome was challenged by the Tawfiiq political organisation, which disputed the results and took its case to the Supreme Court.

The court heard the petition before a five-judge electoral bench and ultimately concluded that the violations were sufficiently serious to invalidate the results.The August 24 judgment represents a significant intervention by Somalia’s judiciary in the country’s evolving direct-election system. Earlier direct elections in Banaadir and South West State had been upheld by the Supreme Court, while Galmudug became the first of the recent one-person-one-vote exercises to have its results annulled and a rerun ordered.

The commission’s decision to accept the judgment reduces the immediate prospect of an institutional confrontation between the electoral body and the judiciary and shifts attention to how quickly a new election can be organised.

Under the Supreme Court ruling, Galmudug’s existing institutions will remain in place pending the completion of fresh elections, preventing a governance vacuum while the electoral process is repeated.