Edmonton May 20, 2023 (SD) – Edmonton-Decore is a provincial electoral district in the city of Edmonton, Canada, and it recently elected a Somali-Canadian politician.

In a provincial election, the constituency saw the victory of Chris Nielsen, a member of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP), who first won the seat in 2015.

Nielsen received 8,789 votes, securing 47.54 percent of the total votes in the 2019 Alberta provincial election.

Ahead of the 2023 election, there was no incumbent as Nielsen lost the nomination to Sharif Haji, the former executive director at The Africa Centre.

In the provincial election held on May 29, 2023, the results for the Edmonton-Decore constituency were as follows: United Conservative Party candidate Sayid Ahmed UCP received 4,289 votes, Alberta Party candidate Brent Tyson AP received 461 votes, Liberal candidate Donald Slater LIB received 227 votes, and Sharif Haji emerged victorious with 5,136 votes.

Sharif Haji is a former African Canadian Community leader and has been involved in the housing and healthcare sectors.

He has also worked with various organizations, including being a founding member of the Federation of African Canadian Economics (FACE), which focuses on empowering Black businesses in Canada.

Sharif Haji’s election as the first Somali-Canadian representative for the Alberta provincial constituency is a significant milestone.