Cirro, a leader of Somaliland’s resistance, wins the presidential race, beating the current president

The electoral commission said on Tuesday that Abdirahman Cirro, the leader of the Somaliland resistance, beat Muse Bihi Abdi, the current president, in last week’s election. This means that power will be passed on to Cirro, as the independent Somali region tries to get recognized around the world.

Since Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, it has had de facto self-government, but no country has recognized it. This means that its six million people can’t move or get access to foreign finance.

Musa Hassan, head of the Somaliland Electoral Commission, said that Cirro, leader of the rival Waddani party, got 64% of the vote, while Bihi only got 35%.

“There is no winner or loser in this election.” “It was an election of brotherhood and unity that moved the Somaliland nation forward,” Cirro said on Tuesday in a TV speech.

Somaliland is in a good spot, between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. They think they can get world recognition soon after making a deal with landlocked Ethiopia in January to give Addis Ababa a strip of land on their coast in exchange for recognition.

As well, Somaliland hopes that the new U.S. government led by President-elect Donald Trump will support its cause. Several of Trump’s top Africa policymakers from his first term have said they want it to be recognized.

Since getting its independence 30 years ago, the separate area has had a relatively peaceful time. This is in contrast to Somalia, which is currently in the middle of a civil war that it has yet to end.

While Cirro has shown that he generally agrees with the planned deal with Ethiopia, it is not clear how he plans to carry it out. Some experts think he might be more willing to talk with Somalia’s government, which is against the deal.

The deal has made things worse between Somalia and Ethiopia, which was helping to fund a peacekeeping force in Somalia to fight Islamist terrorists. It has also brought the government of Somalia closer to Egypt and Eritrea, two countries that have long been rivals of Ethiopia.

Cicero was praised on his win by the presidents of Somalia and Djibouti, which is close by and had tense ties with Somaliland under Bihi.

A message of congratulations was also sent to Cirro from Ethiopia’s foreign office.

“Congratulations to the newly elected President of Somaliland… and to the brotherly people of Somaliland for their political maturity,” Ismail Omar Guelleh, president of Djibouti, wrote on X.

In his message, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud promised that peace talks would continue. He said that the goal of these talks was to keep Somalia together.

Matt Bryden, a strategic assistant at the Sahan think tank, said, “There are concerns that (Cirro) may choose to make a big change from his predecessor, throw out the MOU (deal with Ethiopia), and start talking to Somalia. But there’s a big difference between campaigning and governing.”

Cirro’s win could also mean better relations with China, which has a lot of money invested in the Horn of Africa.

Somali media say Cirro has asked in the past if Somaliland’s links with Taiwan, which China sees as part of its territory, are helpful in its fight for recognition.