1969 Somali parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Somalia on 26 March 1969. A total of 64 parties ran in the election, many of which had been formed shortly beforehand.[1] The result was a victory for the Somali Youth League (SYL), which won 73 of the 123 seats. In total, 27 parties won seats, but immediately after the elections, most of the MPs for the smaller parties joined the Somali Youth League. The SYL held 109 seats by the end of May, in addition to being in a coalition with the Somali National Congress. This, in turn, gave the SYL control of 120 of the 123 seats.[2]

This was to be the last election in Somalia prior to a coup d'état on 21 October, when officers of the far-left Supreme Revolutionary Council led by Siad Barre transformed Somalia into a single-party Marxist-Leninist state that would last until the fall of the regime in 1991.[3][4][5]

Electoral system

The electoral system used was a mixture of single-member plurality and party-list proportional representation. There were 48 electoral districts. In ten of them, only one member was elected, and thus the single-member plurality system was used. In the remaining districts, seats were distributed using party-list proportional representation and the Hare quota. The average number of members elected in a multi-member district was approximately three.[6]

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Somali Youth League	260,046	33.24	73	+4
	Somali National Congress	77,339	9.89	11	–11
	Somali Democratic Union	46,064	5.89	2	–13
	Popular Movement for Democratic Action	42,629	5.45	2	New
	Somali African National Union	42,006	5.37	6	+1
	Somali Socialist Party	31,058	3.97	2	New
	Somali Independent Constitutional Party	27,681	3.54	8	–1
	Liberal Party of Young Somalis	25,639	3.28	3	+2
	Revolutionary Socialist Workers Party	16,742	2.14	1	New
	United Somali Party	13,942	1.78	0	–1
	Ururka Dadka Dalka	13,543	1.73	1	New
	Somali National Solidarity Party	12,269	1.57	1	New
	Somali People's Movement Party	8,531	1.09	2	New
	Somali United Party	7,923	1.01	1	New
	Muslim Democratic Party	6,655	0.85	1	New
	Somali Republican party	6,240	0.80	0	–1
	Ubah Party	5,912	0.76	1	New
	Somali National League	5,404	0.69	1	0
	All Somali Association	5,395	0.69	1	New
	Somali Danwadag Union Party	5,389	0.69	1	New
	Somali Labour Party	5,122	0.65	1	New
	Progressive Socialist Union	4,426	0.57	1	New
	Organisation of Somali Unity	4,353	0.56	1	New
	Somali National Movement	4,290	0.55	0	–1
	Worker's and People's Democratic Party	3,524	0.45	1	New
	Somali African Democratic Party	3,471	0.44	1	New
	Somali National Union Manifesto	2,908	0.37	1	New
	Somali Amalgamation Party	2,870	0.37	1	New
	Justice and Freedom Party	2,305	0.29	1	New
	Somali Democratic Party	2,293	0.29	1	New
	34 other parties	86,265	11.03	0	–
Total		782,234	100.00	127	0
Valid votes		782,234	88.94
Invalid/blank votes		97,320	11.06
Total votes		879,554	100.00
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union

References

1. Somalia Inter-Parliamentary Union
2. Elections in Somalia African Elections Database
3. Library of Congress. Federal Research Division (1993). "Siad Barre and Scientific Socialism". In Metz, Helen Chapin (ed.). Somalia: A Country Study. U.S. Government Publishing Office. ISBN 9780844407753.
4. Library of Congress. Federal Research Division (1993). "Siad Barre's Repressive Measures". In Metz, Helen Chapin (ed.). Somalia: A Country Study. U.S. Government Publishing Office. ISBN 9780844407753.
5. Library of Congress. Federal Research Division (1993). "The Social Order". In Metz, Helen Chapin (ed.). Somalia: A Country Study. U.S. Government Publishing Office. ISBN 9780844407753.
6. Somalia Inter-Parliamentary Union