Breaking news … Mayoral recount is set for next Tuesday

Mayoral candidate Muhith Mahmood

By Charles Sercombe
Hamtramck’s mayoral election not quite over yet.
Mayoral candidate Muhith Mahmood has filed for a recount of the election.
The Wayne Board of Canvassers will conduct the recount this coming Tuesday, Dec. 2, at 9 a.m.
Hamtramckans will have to travel to downtown Detroit to witness the recount, which will take place at the Ralph Vigliotti Building, 1900 E. Jefferson,
Mahmood lost his bid for the city’s top elective office by a mere six votes.
As of now, Adam Alharbi is the mayor-elect.
Mahmood is paying $500 for the recount, but if he succeeds in overturning the election, the state will pay for the recount.
If past election recounts are any guide, it’s unlikely Mahmood will succeed.

Mayoral-elect Adam Alharbi

In the 1990s, former mayor Gary Zych went through several recounts but always managed to come out victorious – even when elections were only a handful of votes in difference.
No matter what the outcome is in the recount, Mahmood still faces a legal challenge by Alharbi, who has a filed a lawsuit to bar Mahmood from holding office in Hamtramck.
Alharbi is contending that Mahmood and Councilmember Abu Musa are not actually residents of the city and thus not qualified to hold elective office.
Alharbi is basing his lawsuit on an internal investigation conducted by the law firm Miller Johnson which collected evidence that Mahmood resides in Troy with his wife and children, and that Musa lives in Warren with his wife and family.
Both Mahmood and Musa admit their families live in the suburbs, but they insist that they reside in Hamtramck.
Neighbors near the Hamtramck houses where Mahmood and Musa say they live dispute those claims. And neighbors in Troy and Warren say they indeed live with their families, according to the Miller Johnson investigation.
The mayor is paid $6,500 a year, and the job is largely ceremonial. The mayor’s main job is chairing city council meetings, and making appointments to various city commissions.
Posted Nov. 26, 2025