Osman won the presidency on the third ballot by a single decisive vote

Evidence

[On the second ballot] Sheikh Ali Giumale improved his position and obtained 61 to 59 for Aden Abdulla, one vote again being illegible. It was thought that Sheikh Ali Giumale would now go on to victory but on the third and final ballot, there was a slight shift in the sentiment and Aden Abdulla received 62 votes to 59 for Sheikh Ali Giumale after it was finally decided the deputy with the indecipherable handwriting was actually voting for Aden Abdulla. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 596

Categorization

• XREF: An indecipherable ballot deciding a national presidency echoes electoral-arbitrariness themes the reader may find across democratization histories.