By Asha Elmi - Reporter
Somalia, Aug. 3 2026 – Somalia's Towfiq political party said on Sunday it will hold peaceful protests if Galmudug election results do not match polling station records, and urged the electoral commission to ensure a transparent count.
Speaking at a news conference, Towfiq party chairman Sheikh Mohamed Shakir Ali Hassan, alleged irregularities during the July 31 vote and said some party agents and supporters had been arrested, assaulted or prevented from casting their ballots. The allegations could not be independently verified.
Hassan congratulated voters who participated in the elections and thanked the party's supporters for what he described as a strong turnout across Galmudug.
He said each political party had deployed accredited agents to polling stations to record vote tallies and called on the commission to announce results that matched those records.
"We expect the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to announce the results exactly as they were recorded at the polling stations," Hassan said. "We will not accept any additions or alterations to the vote count."
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Hassan warned that the party would resort to peaceful demonstrations if the announced results differed from those documented by its polling agents.
"If our expectations are not met, we will organize peaceful demonstrations," he said, urging supporters to remain peaceful and avoid violence.
The July 31 polls were part of Somalia's broader transition toward one-person, one-vote elections after decades of indirect, clan-based voting. Voters cast ballots to elect members of local councils and the Galmudug House of Representatives across the regional state.
The National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has not responded to Towfiq's allegations. In an update issued on Saturday night, the commission said vote counting had been completed and that verification of the results was underway, but it did not specify when the final results would be announced.