Galmudug Polls: Election Commission Unveils Voter Numbers Ahead of July 30 Vote

GOOBJOOG NEWS|DHURAMAREB: The National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NIEBC) has released the distribution of voters across all the 11 districts for the upcoming Galmudug State elections, confirming that hundreds of contestants will compete for seats in both the State House of Representatives and local councils when voting takes place on July 30.

According to figures announced by the commission on Wednesday, 12 political organizations have fielded candidates for the 89-seat Galmudug House of Representatives. A total of 349 candidates are in the race, of whom 84 percent are men and 16 percent are women.

For the local council elections, 16 political organizations have nominated 924 candidates to contest 243 council seats across Galmudug. The commission said 78.6 percent of the candidates are men, while women account for 21.4 percent.

NIEBC noted that the Justice and Solidarity and Towfiiq political organizations have presented the largest number of candidates in the elections.

The commission also released the number of registered voters by district ahead of Thursday’s polls. Galkaayo has the highest number of registered voters with 65,950, followed by Cabudwaaq with 48,358, Hobyo with 37,734, and Cadaado with 33,679.

The remaining districts recorded the following voter totals: Dhuusamareeb (23,735), Guriceel (22,001), Harardheere (9,929), Heraale (8,872), Balanbale (7,349), Ceeldheer (5,435), and Galaad/Masagawaay (4,368).

The figures indicate that a combined total of 267,410 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots across the 11 electoral districts during the July 30 elections.

The Galmudug elections form part of Somalia’s ongoing electoral process aimed at expanding local representation and advancing the country’s transition toward broader democratic participation through multiparty elections.