Somalia’s parliamentary and presidential elections were scheduled to take place after the end of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo’s term in February, but disagreements between the government and opposition delayed the process almost a year. Not only has this created a mistrust between the government and the opposition, it almost led to a full-blown civil war this year. In April, pro-government and opposition fighters opened fire in the streets of Mogadishu after President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed extended his term in office without holding fresh elections. The constitutional crisis was only defused when President Mohamed, better known by his nickname Farmaajo, reversed the term extension and his prime minister, Roble, brokered a timetable to a vote. The delay in parliamentary elections has an impact on the country in several ways.
Mahad Wasuge from Somali Public Agenda, a research organization in Mogadishu, says the delay in parliamentary elections has affected the presidential vote, which he predicts will be pushed toward early next year.
Somalia does not conduct election on the basis of one person one vote but rather uses a complex clan based electoral system. Nearly 30,000 clan delegates are assigned to choose the 275 MPs for the lower house, while Somalia’s five state legislatures elect senators for the 54-member upper house. Once elected and sworn in, both houses of parliament then vote for the next president.
Senator Elected in controversy
Somalia’s Jubbaland state became the first state to start the election to the Senate having elected its first four Senators by 29th July. At this election Mr Ilyas Bedel Gabbose won first after defeating Mohamed Ahmed Sayid, 55 to 17 votes in an early race on the morning of the 29th July. In the second seat, incumbent Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail Fartaag had an easy victory after his challenger Ahmed Mohamed Jama dropped out of the race. In the next round of voting, Abirizak Mohamed Osman and Hassan Iman Iftin were also elected senators.
Somalia’s South West state on 2nd August elected five senators, becoming only the second federal region in the country to vote in new representatives to the Upper House. But the vote held in Baidoa, the interim capital of the State, came amid complaints of favoritism from some of the contenders thrown out of the nomination list. The two outgoing senators Ilyas Ali Hassan and Hussein Mohamud complained of foul play after their names were removed from the list and the seats allocated to other clans.
Shortly after South West started their election Puntland followed suit starting its process on August 11, however unlike the other states Puntland completed the election to all of its eleven Senate seats. The election in Puntland made history after it elected three women among the 11 senators who will join the Upper House of the 11th Parliament.
However, Puntland’s election process was not without problem, the election followed a controversial nomination list presented by state President Said Abdullahi Deni. And even the contest itself ended earlier than predicted. Nine senators were elected unopposed after their opponents quit the race. Competition was only on two seats and in both cases, winners scored more than 80 percent of the vote.
Galmudug’s Senatorial election was not without controversy, all the first six candidates in the Galmudug Senate Elections were elected unopposed after their rivals pulled out of the race in what mirrors a near similar scenario during the Puntland elections the week before. Four of the senators-elect were in the tenth parliament while either as Senators or MPs. Only two are new Senators. Two women were elected adding to eight the total number of women elected so far in three
HirShabelle, was one the more noteworthy Senatorial elections due to the rising insecurity in the region and interference from federal government in Mogadishu. What is more interesting is that HirShablle MPs abandoned the federal senate election in Jowhar, after unhappy candidates and their supporters chanted angry slogans and physically obstructed election administrators from conducting the vote tally – at one point cutting live TV coverage and shutting off the lights in the election venue.
Delegates from Somalia’s northern region of Somaliland on elected six senators to serve in the next Federal Parliament, in spite of lack of interest in a part of the country that has declared its independence. The vote, held in Mogadishu, saw 46 delegates from the region elect six legislators, who will nonetheless cement Somalia’s hold on Somaliland as part of its territory. The first seat was won by the Speaker of the outgoing Senate, Abdi Hashi Abdullahi, receiving 44 votes while two abstained. His opponent, Said Omar Hussein, quit the race just before the voting, indicating that Abdullahi ran unopposed. Abdullahi’s victory was important as he had bickered with Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled over the electoral team, delaying the polls. Both the outgoing Speaker and the deputy prime minister are the most senior officials from Somaliland, a region that has claimed independence from Somalia since 1991, but which no sovereign state recognizes. Ahead of the elections, the region issued a statement rejecting any association with Somalia’s politics. It runs its own government, regularly elected. It also has its own army, currency and central bank.
By the end of October all the states elected their senators, despite pressure from the civil society and the international community to hold free and fair elections, the election to the senate was mired in controversy and backroom dealing amongst the elite.
Following the controversial senatorial elections by the regional administrations, Somalia in November began electing lawmakers for its lower house of parliament, the next phase in a long-delayed and turbulent process toward a presidential vote that has sometimes turned violent. The first two lawmakers for the next 275-member lower house of national parliament were elected at a voting ceremony in the capital Mogadishu under heavy security.
Lower house election begins
As the controversial Senate elections were winding up Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble announced that the election of the members of the lower house of the Somali parliament would begin. The Prime Minister said that the election of the members of the House of Representatives in the northern regions would be the first.
Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled was elected to Somalia’s incoming 11th Parliament. He is the first representative to be selected through Somalia’s indirect voting system. Incumbent Bihi Iman Egeh retained his seat.
However, Mahdi’s election was not with out controversy, The Dispute Resolution Committee has put on hold the declaration of Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled as a member of parliament after an outgoing MP contested his win, He claimed that despite Guled not being from the clan for which the seat was reserved, he was handed the certificate by the State Indirect Elections Team (SIET) for Somaliland. Just as the lower house election has begun its integrity is being called in to questions, it remains to be seen how smooth the process to elect the other seats will be.