Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein won the 1966 Assembly Speaker election over Egal

Evidence

We will never know whether Egal intended to join the SYL if he won the race for assembly Speaker as Osman had suggested to him, but he made a concerted effort in the campaign without a priori allegiance to the SYL. The election was held on March 8, 1966, and Sheikh Mukhtar Mohamed Hussein, endorsed by the govern- ment, received sixty-nine votes; Egal garnered forty-two; and a third candidate received four. Egal immediately called President Osman and told the president that he “was pleased with the democratic way in which the election took place.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 873

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• SEED: Egal’s gracious response to losing a contested democratic election — and the competing pulls of party loyalty and ambition — could anchor an essay on party-switching in emerging democracies.

Related

• Government-endorsed Sheikh Mukhtar won the 1966 assembly speakership (similarity 0.91)
• The 1956 SYL congress elected Osman Speaker and Issa prime minister (similarity 0.79)