The article reconstructs the establishment and consolidation of a single-party government in Somalia also known as Monocolore Government. Following the first political election in 1956, the main nationalist party, the Somali Youth League, obtained the majority of seats in the first Legislative Assembly. This position allowed the party to ratify legislation that would increase the League’s power over internal affairs and make electoral competition for smaller parties extremely difficult. By the time new political elections were held in 1959, smaller parties were, for the most part, excluded from parliamentary representation. This led members of the opposition to join the majority party both before and after independence. By 1960, then, the League emerged as the ‘uncontested’ representative of Somali national politics.