Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on Monday won the country’s freest election in over 40 years.

Somali parliamentarians on Monday September 10 elected a new President in what many admitted were the country’s most open and uncontested election in over four decades. After several rounds of voting in a former police academy in the capital, Mogadishu, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, 58, beat outgoing President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed by 190 to 79 votes to obtain the mandatory two thirds majority, the BBC said.

In a live broadcast on State TV, President Sheik Sharif Sheikh Ahmed conceded defeat, saying he was happy to witness the first free and fair election in Somalia in over 40 years. He congratulated Hassan Sheikh on his election, declaring that he was fully satisfied with the results. The new President was sworn into office immediately after the announcement of results, the AP news agency reported.

A total of 269 lawmakers took part in Monday's presidential vote that saw a total of 25 candidates standing. The victory of the former university lecturer, civil society activist and political newcomer has been described by observers as a key step toward the country’s transition from a war-torn, failed State to a nation with an effective government.

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud worked for several national and international peace and development organisations. He graduated from the Somali National University in 1981 and went on to study in India, where he obtained a Master's degree from Bhopal University. He worked for the United Nations Children's Organisation, UNICEF as an education officer in south and central Somalia until the departure of UN peacekeepers in 1995.

He co-founded the Somali Institute of Management and Administration Development in Mogadishu, which later evolved into Simad University. In 2011, he founded the Peace and Development Party and is its current chairman. He speaks Somali and English and is from the Hawiye clan - one of Somalia's biggest.

While Somalia has had transitional governments since 2004, it has not had a functioning central administration since 1991 when warlords overthrew former President Siad Barre and turned on each other, plunging the impoverished nation into chaos. The last day of the eight-year UN-backed transitional government was August 20. The country has however seen much progress over the last year. Al-Qaida-linked Al-Shabab militants were forced out of Mogadishu in August 2011, allowing businesses to thrive and arts and sports to return. Al-Shabab has also lost towns in western Somalia to government and African Union troops.