in 2012, jawari presented himself as a candidate in the first elections for a speaker of the federal parliament to take place within somalia in two decades. in the televised and radio-broadcast parliamentary session held on 28 august 2012 at the gen. kahiye police academy near the mogadishu international airport, jawari beat four other candidates for the post, all of whom had previously served as government ministers during the transitional period. the hopefuls included abdiabshir abdullahi, abdirashid mohamed hidig, hassan abshir farah and ali khalif galaydh, a former prime minister in the transitional national government. jawari received 119 votes during the first round of ballots versus 77 votes for galeyr, who placed second. galeyr subsequently withdrew from the race prior to the second round run-off and congratulated jawari, who was then named the new parliamentary speaker.