MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – A late-night, closed-door meeting at the presidential palace on Wednesday has thrust Somalia’s Southwest state election into fresh controversy, after President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud anointed parliament Speaker Adan Mohamed Nur, widely known as Adan Madobe, as the ruling party’s sole candidate.
The meeting brought together Mohamud, Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre and Adan Madobe, along with a select group of Southwest politicians, including Hussein Hassan Elay, Sadad Mohamed Nur Aliyow and Ilyas Ali Hassan. Many prominent figures from the region – some serving in the federal cabinet and others within the ruling party – were notably absent.
According to local media, the president made it unequivocally clear: there would be no internal contest. Adan Madobe alone would carry the party’s banner in the forthcoming Southwest presidential election.
The decision has quickly stirred unease, not only among sidelined allies but also among observers who see it as a test of the government’s democratic credentials. For critics, the question is straightforward: if competition is curtailed within the ruling party itself, what guarantees exist for a genuinely open election beyond it?
The move risks widening fractures within a party already weakened by the recent departure of key members. Several influential figures from Southwest state, who had been positioning themselves for the presidency, now find themselves shut out entirely – an outcome that could deepen political tensions in the weeks ahead.
Adan Madobe’s selection is also politically loaded. As speaker, he played a pivotal role in shepherding President Mohamud’s controversial constitutional amendments through parliament – measures critics say were passed without the required majority. He has also been central to advancing the government’s proposed shift to a one-person, one-vote electoral system, an initiative the opposition argues is being used to delay elections as institutional mandates lapse. Parliament’s term has already expired, and the president’s mandate is due to end next month.
The backdrop to all this is the federal government’s recent takeover of Baidoa, the administrative seat of Southwest state. Last month’s military operation – reportedly supported by the Turkish air force – was framed by officials as an effort to restore democratic order. Yet some analysts now argue the intervention may have tightened, rather than loosened, political control.
“If a party cannot demonstrate commitment to democracy internally, where else can it protect democracy?,” said Rashid Abdi, a prominent Horn of Africa analyst.
The government has pledged that the upcoming vote in Baidoa will be conducted under universal suffrage, with candidates competing freely and voters able to make an open choice. But the decision to field only a single ruling party candidate has cast a long shadow over those assurances.
As the election draws closer, the central question remains unresolved: whether Southwest state is heading toward a genuinely competitive vote – or an outcome shaped well in advance behind closed doors.
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