Ahmed, originally a member of the Labor Party, ran for the Senate in 2004 for the Greens. He left that party soon afterwards.[8]
Ahmed received four percent of the vote as an independent candidate for the 2012 Melbourne state by-election. Whilst he came sixth out of 16 candidates, he came third after eliminated candidate preferences with 15.9 percent. Ahmed had recommended preferencing Labor over the Greens on his how-to-vote card. Two thirds of his 15.9 percent primary and preference votes favoured Labor, putting Labor ahead of the Greens to win the seat.[9]
In 2012, Ahmed ran for the council of the City of Melbourne, polling 2.45%.[10] Robert Doyle was elected mayor.
Ahmed is the chairman of the Victoria-based Africa Think Tank,[1] which serves migrant and refugee communities from Africa.[11] He is involved in public advocacy on cultural issues, racism and human rights.