Galkacyo (WDN) — Galmudug presidential candidate Liban Ahmed Hassan, widely known as Liban Shuluq, has delivered a pointed rebuke to opposition forces challenging the Federal Government’s election strategy, urging them to abandon confrontation and accept what he described as the proper political path to power.
Liban Shuqul, is a businessman associated with the Qat trade and is reported to have business ties to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. Liban Shuluq is already being presented by Villa Somalia as the next and the only president of Galmudug, long before a credible and competitive electoral process has taken place. His candidacy leaves no room for genuine competition, reinforcing the believe that the outcome has effectively been decided in advance.
This comes as no surprise to anyone who has closely followed Somali politics and Villa Somalia’s political conduct: while publicly engaging in rhetoric about a fair one-person, one-vote system, President Hassan Sheikh is anointing and positioning his candidates before elections are even held.
Speaking in Galkayo at a farewell ceremony for outgoing Galmudug President Ahmed Abdi Kariye Qoor-Qoor, Liban Shuluq praised the president for what he described as a record of service and for putting the interests of his people ahead of personal political ambitions.
But the most striking part of Liban’s remarks was his direct attack on opponents of the Federal Government, particularly those rejecting the electoral process being advanced by Mogadishu. Liban accused opposition figures of seeking power through confrontation rather than through elections, delivering a message that is aligned with the political narrative emerging from Villa Somalia.
“Two years ago, people were telling me that the president’s term had expired and asking why I was not fighting. My message to the opposition is: be patient. If you insult and attack the national leadership, you are only hurting yourselves,” Liban said.
His comments come as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government pushes ahead with a controversial electoral roadmap that opposition leaders have rejected as one-sided and designed to favor candidates supported by Villa Somalia. Critics argue that the model is reproducing the political spectacle witnessed in Baidoa, where the electoral process has been fiercely disputed and opposition forces have accused the Federal Government of manipulating the process to ensure the victory of its preferred candidate.
Hirshabelle is also expected to follow the same trajectory, raising fears among opposition groups that a broader pattern is emerging: elections formally presented as democratic contests but structured in a manner that virtually guarantees victory for candidates acceptable to Villa Somalia.
The message emerging from Galmudug is increasingly clear: what President Hassan Sheikh wants is what will happen. By openly backing and politically elevating his preferred candidate, Villa Somalia is seen as exerting overwhelming influence over a process that should belong to the people and institutions of Galmudug. An election cannot credibly be described as free or fair when one candidate is effectively declared the winner before the vote is held.
The Bigger Political Battle
Liban’s remarks expose the widening divide between two competing visions for Somalia’s political future.
Villa Somalia and its allies insist that the country must move forward with elections under the existing framework. The opposition, meanwhile, argues that the process must first be renegotiated to guarantee political neutrality and prevent the Federal Government from using state institutions to engineer favorable outcomes.
The battle over Galmudug could therefore become much larger than a contest between individual candidates. It may serve as another test of whether Somalia’s emerging electoral system can produce a genuinely competitive political outcome—or whether elections will increasingly become mechanisms for confirming candidates already favored by those controlling the machinery of government.
With Baidoa still casting a long shadow and Hirshabelle potentially next in line, Galmudug may now be the next major arena in Somalia’s escalating struggle over who controls the electoral process—and ultimately who controls the country’s political future.
WardheerNews