MOGADISHU, Somalia — Parliament elected a new president of the country's fledgling government Monday, a move that members of the international community say is a key step toward the East African nation's transition from a war-torn failed state to a nation with an effective government.
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, a political newcomer, defeated Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, the sitting president, by the legislative vote of 190 to 79, according to Parliament Speaker Mohamed Osman Jawari. Ahmed conceded defeat.
Last year, Mohamud founded a political party named Peace and Development.
Before that he taught as a professor, including at the Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development, which he helped found in 1999.
Fifteen transitional governments have failed to curb violence among clans, as well as an Al Qaeda-linked insurgency that began when dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
The absence of an effective central administration, police, and courts has allowed piracy off the country's Indian Ocean coast, kidnappings, and corruption to thrive, and has stunted economic development.