Hassan Istiila
Wednesday October 26, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - After a marathon poll involving five candidates, students at Mogadishu's SIMAD University elected Hassan Ahmed Jakula as the 9th President of it's student government on Monday following an election where 80% of students turned out to vote.
With just under 30% of the total vote, Jakula beat out five candidates in the hotly contested election, including Anisa Adan Isse, Said Abdukhadir Gacal, Nawal Olow, Abdishakur Nor Dahir.
Anisa came in second place and recieved 606 total votes (19.77%). Trailing behind her slightly was Abdishakur who got 557 votes (18.17%) while Nawal and Said finished at the tail-end with 515 votes (16.79%), and 490 votes (15.98%) respectively.
3,066 of the total 3,857 students cast a ballot.
The vote count was broadcast live on Facebook and on local television channels.
Anisa and Nawal's campaign marked the first time where a women stood for student government president at SIMAD. In previous years, women typicaly ran for vice-president or other junior positions.
Prior to the vote, presidential-hopefuls participated in televised debates where they proposed solutions to the most pressing issues facing the university and student life.
SIMAD's student government is known the XAJSi. President-electHassan Ahmed Jakula, thanked his competitors and commended the organziers for a smooth election.
SIMAD University congradulted Jakula for his electoral victoy.