Territorial Council elections were held in French Somaliland on 23 June 1957.
The new electoral system led to the creation of the territory's first real political parties; Harbi Farah Mahamoud formed the Republican Union, whilst Hassan Gouled Aptidon established the Defence of Economic and Social Interests of the Territory (DIEST) party.
Mahamoud (a member of the National Assembly), Aptidon (a member of the Council of the Republic) and Mohamed Kamil (a member of the French Union Assembly) all sought to implement the new system in a way that favoured their own parties; Harbi produced a draft decree in late 1956 that would increase the number of constituencies from three to four, and give 20 of the 32 seats in an enlarged Council to the city of Djibouti.
[1] Kamil, supported by Aptidon, proposed a 30 member Council, with Djibouti having 13 seats and Obock–Tadjoura and Ali Sabieh–Dikhil six each.
[4] The right to vote was restricted to native men and French citizens who had lived in the territory for at least a year.