Osman and Hussen policed their own ruling party’s electoral overreach in 1963-64

Evidence

First, Osman and Hussen went further than any of their African peers as they genuinely sought free and fair elections with the clear knowledge that this could lead to their political demise. Playing by the constitutional rules and accepting legitimate defeats in the polls is one of the major hallmarks of democrats anywhere. Africa’s first democrats went beyond this because they tried to tame the excess of their own political party in power. Osman and Hussen chastised the SYL and its government, particularly before independence and then in the 1963 and 1964 elections, for trying to muzzle political opponents. In one instance Osman cheered when the Supreme Court overturned the parliamentary election in the port city of Marka where his party claimed victory. On other occasions, Osman mediated between the ruling party and the opposition, but he did not hesitate to denounce the opposition when he found them insincere in their demands. Here, Osman and Hussen were among a handful of postcolonial leaders who censured their party colleagues’ attempts to retain or extend their authority through whatever means necessary. Osman’s political motto was that SYL needed no more than 51 percent of the vote to govern the country legitimately. No other African leader at the time or since has had such a commitment. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1099