Salvation Council Pushes One Person, One Vote to Reclaim Somalia Presidency

[Deeq A.]

Dahir Gelle subtly claimed that the National Salvation Council in talks with Villa Somalia represents federal member states such as Puntland State of Somalia.

Mogadishu (PP Commentary) —Although Ha Noolaato, a Somali politics YouTube podcast channel, did not ask Daahir Gelle hard-hitting questions, it gave viewers an opportunity to understand the position of the Golaha Samatabixinta Soomaaliya (the Somali Salvation Council), led by former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Gelle, the owner of the Qur’anic Radio Station in Mogadishu, Minister in previous Somali governments and former Ambassador of Somalia in Saudi Arabia, said that his group was in favour of one person, one vote elections.

“We urged President Hassan to reverse the amendments of the Constitution on which he took an oath,” Gelle said. This demand to reverse amendments to the Provisional Constitution rests on the assumption that the bicameral legislature functions merely as a rubber stamp for the executive branch of government. If so, what laws exist to prevent a future Federal Government of Somalia from following in the footsteps of a previous administration accused of legislative capture?  He implied that “luminaries such as a former President, three former Prime Ministers and two former Speakers of Parliament” represent the Somali people. One of the former Speakers, Mohamed Mursal, single-handedly supported the illegal term extensions for the federal institutions in 2021, when former Presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and  Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire formed armed, anti-term-extension militias known as Badbaado Qaran (National Salvation).

Former President, Sharif Ahmed, sees the National Salvation Council as a variation on Badbaado Qaran.

Gelle took issue with a comment made by Puntland State’s Interior Minister, Abdi Farah Said, who accused the self-styled Salvation Council of posturing. Asked whether the opposition could sell any agreement with Villa Somalia to the Federal Member States, Gelle claimed that his group would be able to convince them if they “reach an agreement with the incumbent President, Dr Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.”

Ahmed Abdi Karie (Qoorqoor), the President of Galmudug State, said that people in Galmudug would never support indirect elections. Gelle seemed to agree. “We support one person, one vote elections in Somalia and see it as a process that serves the interests of electorates,” he said.

Former Somali Prime Minister Hassan A. Kheire advocates for the continuation of indirect elections.

The announcement by the Mayor of Mogadishu, Hassan Muungaab, that more than 1,000,000 potential voters have been registered in Banaadir was not lost on members of the Salvation Council, who are eager to return Sharif Sheikh Ahmed to Villa Somalia by hook or by crook.

The Salvation Council dreams of retaining all the powers that the incumbent President currently exercises, of which the  alleged unchecked influence over the bicameral legislature is the most insidious.

Neither Puntland nor Jubaland has endorsed the role of the National Salvation Council, whose major trump card is its presence in its Mogadishu stronghold. That, however, is a political weakness keenly exploited by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

© Puntland Post, 2025

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