Polling stations for presidential elections opened on Wednesday in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland.
The incumbent president Muse Bihi Abdi from the ruling Kulmiye party and candidates Abdirahman Irro from the main opposition Wadan party and Faysal Ali Warabe, leader of the opposition UCID party are vying for the presidency.
Voters began arriving at polling stations early in the morning to choose their president for the next five years. Voting started at 7 a.m. local time and will continue until 6pm.
Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission said more than 1 million registered voters will take part in the election.
The voting comes amid strained relations between Somalia and Ethiopia over a deal with Ethiopia over Somaliland’s access to the Red Sea.
Somaliland, a former British protectorate, merged with Italian Somalia in 1960 after independence. It seceded from Somalia again in 1991 due to the outbreak of civil war. For 33 years, the country has been seeking recognition from the international community, which would allow it to receive foreign funding and aid.
Somaliland now has its own currency, army and issues passports. All three candidates say they intend to seek international recognition of sovereignty. One such attempt was the signing of a memorandum with Ethiopia to lease the port of Berbera in exchange for recognition of the republic’s independence on January 1, 2024. Since then, relations between Ethiopia and the federal government of Somalia, which does not recognise Somaliland’s sovereign status, have escalated sharply to the point of threatening military intervention.
