Mogadishu – Voting began on Thursday in one of Somalia’s states, days late but ahead of the rest of the country where the first phase of national elections has failed to even start.
Long-overdue parliamentary and presidential elections were supposed to start July 25, according to a timetable agreed by Somalia’s political leaders after months of violent disagreement over the process.
Elections in Somalia follow a complex indirect model and in the first stage of voting, the five regional states were to choose senators for the upper house in the national parliament.
But not one state was ready and none voted on July 25, throwing the timetable into disarray.
Jubaland, a state bordering Kenya that had undertaken the most preparations, proceeded with its vote Thursday, electing four candidates to the 54-member upper house.
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State president Ahmed Madobe praised Jubaland for kick-starting the long-delayed and hard-fought election.
“We have achieved a historic victory today by overcoming long-running uncertainty about whether this vote would take place,” he said.
“This means the country is headed for elections, and I hope the rest of the states will follow suit.”
But the other four states face varying degrees of delays and disorganisation, sources say.
South-West state is expected to hold a vote soon, while Hirshabelle has not finished the earliest stages of preparation.
In Galmudug, the local parliament is on a break and will reconvene in early August, while Puntland is not expected to hold a vote until after its anniversary celebrations around the same time.
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The delays all but certainly derail an election timetable reached after months of discord and violence between Somalia’s feuding political actors.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and state leaders had been unable to agree on the terms of a vote before his term lapsed in February, triggering an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
The political impasse exploded into violence in April when negotiations collapsed and the lower house of parliament extended the president’s mandate by two years, sparking gun battles on the streets of Mogadishu.
Under pressure the president, commonly known as Farmajo, reversed the extension and ordered his prime minister to reconvene with the state leaders to chart a fresh roadmap towards elections.
A new timetable was announced in June, easing political tensions.
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The schedule was later slightly amended, with elections for the upper house set for July 25, and the lower house between September 12 and October 2. But no mention was made of a vote for the president by both houses, which was originally planned for October 10.
Somalia has not held a direct one-person, one-vote election since 1969, the year dictator Siad Barre led a coup and went on to rule for two decades.
This latest timetable is the second in recent years plagued by setback and delays.
Farmajo and the states struck a similar deal last September, outlining a roadmap to a presidential election before his mandate expired.
But long-running distrust between Farmajo and the states scuttled the deal and months of UN-backed negotiations failed to get the process back on track.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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