| Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi | |
| Birth Date: | 24 April 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Hargeisa, British Somaliland (present-day Somaliland) |
| Office: | President-elect of Somaliland |
| Vicepresident: | Mohamed Aw-Ali Abdi (elect) |
| Term Start: | 13 December 2024 |
| Succeeding: | Muse Bihi Abdi |
| Office1: | 4th Speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives |
| Term Start1: | November 2005 |
| Term End1: | 2 August 2017 |
| Predecessor1: | Ahmed Mohamed Adan |
| Successor1: | Bashe Mohamed Farah |
| Office2: | Chairman of Waddani |
| Term Start2: | October 2012 |
| Term End2: | 16 November 2021 |
| Predecessor2: | Position established |
| Successor2: | Hersi Ali Haji Hassan |
| Party: | Waddani (since 2012) |
| Otherparty: | Justice and Welfare Party (until 2010) |
| Alma Mater: | American University (MBA) |
| Signature: | Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Cirro signature.svg |
Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (so|Cabdiraxmaan Maxamed Cabdillaahi Cirro, ar|عبد الرحمن محمد عبد الله; born 24 April 1956), colloquially known as Irro, is a Somaliland politician who is the president-elect of Somaliland.
Abdirahman served as speaker of the Somaliland House of Representatives during most of the first elected parliament.[1] [2] [3] [4] He was announced as the presidential nominee in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election for the Waddani Party. He won the election, and is scheduled to be inaugurated in December.[5]
Professionally, Abdirahman worked at the Settlement Development Agency (Dan-wadaagaha) in different parts of Somalia. From 1981, he took on a position in the foreign service of the Somali Democratic Republic. Abdirahman also served in the Somali Embassy as the first consular in Moscow, which covered the entire Soviet Union.[6] In 1991, he was re-appointed as Somalia's acting Ambassador to the Soviet Union. In this capacity, Abdirahman assisted the many Somali expatriates who had left Somalia following outbreak of the civil war. He later relocated to Finland in 1996 to join his family, who had moved there a few years prior,[7] and subsequently received Finnish citizenship.[8] He belongs to the Abukar Logeh branch of the Musa Abdallah subclan of the Habr Yunis.
In 2005, Abdirahman was elected in the 2005 Somaliland parliamentary election to represent the Justice and Welfare Party (UCID) in Sahil.[9]
The UCID political party was the first opposition party formally formed in Somaliland after the ruling United Peoples' Democratic Party (UDUB), while other politicians generally focused their opposition against the region's incumbent Egal administration (AHN). UCID also supported the referendum which put the foundation for the multi-party system, a process which many politicians have opposed and saw favouring Egal (AHN).[10]
Somaliland held elections to an 82-member House of Representatives on 29 September 2005.[11] It was the first multi-party parliamentary election conducted in Somaliland since 1991, when the civil war began.
The 2017 Somaliland presidential election was the third direct presidential election since 2003, held nominally on 13 November 2017. The result was a victory for ruling Kulmiye party candidate Muse Bihi Abdi, who received 55% of the vote. Abdirahman received 41% of the vote.[12]
Abdirahman was elected President of Somaliland in the 2024 Somaliland presidential election as the candidate of the Waddani Party. He won nearly 64% of the vote, while incumbent president Muse Bihi Abdi received 35%.[13]