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- Somalia’s MPs voted on Sunday (yesterday) to choose the nation’s president. The keenly contested election is expected to put a stop to the controversies in the complex electoral process that raised tensions in the East African country. The president’s term expired last year without a successor in place. Many feel that the situation was created by the president himself to hold on to the power
Somalia’s MPs voted on Sunday (yesterday) to choose the nation’s president. The keenly contested election is expected to put a stop to the controversies in the complex electoral process that raised tensions in the East African country. The president’s term expired last year without a successor in place. Many feel that the situation was created by the president himself to hold on to power.
The vote to elect the president has taken place through a secret ballot. To win in the first round, a candidate has to secure two-thirds of the vote, which seems to be near impossible. That will translate into 219 ballots. It is expected that the president’s election will be a long drawn out process; may spill over to at least three rounds since getting across the winning margin in the present situation appears to be difficult in the first two rounds. Four main candidates are in the fray.
There are 39 registered presidential candidates. They include incumbent Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, two former presidents, a former prime minister, several top officials and even a journalist. There is also a woman candidate, Fawzia Yusuf Haji Adam, a lawmaker who once served as Somalia’s foreign minister.
The voting has taken place amidst heightened insecurity as the Islamic extremist group, al-Shabab, continues to stage lethal attacks in the capital and elsewhere in the nation. The group is opposed to the federal government and has been letting loose violence. The vote is behind schedule by 15 months. Somali authorities faced a May 17 deadline to hold the vote. Not conforming to the deadline would have risked the country losing key funding from international donors.
Somali polls are unpredictable. President Mohamed, who is also known as Farmaajo, reports indicate, has to put up with stiff resistance from the Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, over control of the government. Roble is not running for president. But behind the scene, he and other former leaders, could play a decisive role in upsetting the apple cart against the present incumbent.
Also Read:
https://trendsnafrica.com/fresh-rows-erupt-over-pm-and-president-in-somalia/
https://trendsnafrica.com/somalia-fails-again-to-meet-the-deadline-for-lower-house-appointments/
https://trendsnafrica.com/somalias-election-process-kicked-off/
https://trendsnafrica.com/rift-between-president-and-prime-minister-intensifies-in-somalia/
Somalia has had peaceful changes of leadership every four years since 2000, despite the charged atmosphere . It has the distinction of having Africa’s first democratically elected president to peacefully step down, way back in 1967 when Aden Abdulle Osman demitted the office after the expiry of his term. Mohamed’s four-year term expired in February 2021. The lower house of parliament approved a two-year extension of his mandate and that of the federal government. Under pressure, Mohamed reversed the term extension. He instructed the prime minister to engage with leaders of regional states to chart a fresh roadmap to the vote. It is difficult to predict who would win the keenly contested election.
