Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Presidential candidate Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, center, casts his vote inside a polling station during ...

The opposition leader of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, has won the territory’s presidential election. More popularly known as Irro, he won with 64% of the vote to become Somaliland’s sixth president since it broke away from Somalia in 1991.

Somaliland's opposition leader has won the presidency of the breakaway region of Somalia, according to election results released Tuesday, an outcome that signalled a rejection of the establishment and a call for change.

Irro’ took over 60 percent of the vote having pledged to push efforts to gain international recognition for the region.

Voters in Somaliland head to the polls on Wednesday to choose a president at a time when the breakaway Somali region sees international recognition within reach after three decades of de facto self-rule.

A new president, a maritime deal with neighbouring Ethiopia, the election of Donald Trump in the United States: after several political shifts in 2024, the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland hopes to see progress in its quest to become Africa's newest state.

The recent presidential elections in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland have concluded with a landslide victory for Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, commonly known as Irro. He competed against the incumbent president,