Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke (Somali: Cabdirashiid Cali Sharmaarke, Arabic: عبد الرشيد علي شرماركي) (8 June 1919 – 15 October 1969), was the first Prime Minister of the Somali Republic from 12 July 1960 to 14 June 1964 and the second President from 6 July 1967, until his assassination on October 15, 1969.
The Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaalida; Italian: Repubblica Somala; Arabic: الجمهورية الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl) was formed by the union of the Italian territory of Somaliland (formerly Italian Somaliland) and the State of Somaliland (formerly British Somaliland). A government was formed by Abdullahi Issa Mohamud and Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal and other members of the trusteeship and protectorate administrations, with Haji Bashir Ismail Yusuf as President of the Somali National Assembly and Aden Abdullah Osman Daar as President of the Somali Republic. On 22 July 1960, Daar appointed Abdirashid Ali Shermarke as prime minister. On 20 July 1961 and through a popular referendum, Somalia ratified a new constitution, which was first drafted in 1960. The new constitution was rejected by Somaliland.
The administration lasted until 1969, when the Supreme Revolutionary Council (SRC) seized power in a bloodless coup and renamed the country the Somali Democratic Republic.