Somalia missed the deadline for holding elections for the lower house of parliament on Tuesday (15 March), causing yet another delay in the process that should result in the nomination of a new president, which has been expected for more than a year.
By early Tuesday evening, the Somali administration had made no statement, despite the fact that the deadline for completing the nomination of members of the lower house had been extended to 15 March last month.
According to an AFP count based on official statistics, the federal states of South West and Galmudug finished electing their MPs on Tuesday, while 40 of the 275 seats in the lower house remained unfilled in three states (Jubaland, Hirshabelle, and Puntland).
The conclusion of the lower house elections is an important milestone in the process of electing a new president. In Somalia’s complicated system, parliamentarians are chosen by federal-state assemblies and representatives from a variety of clans and sub-clans, who subsequently pick the president.
Clashes between armed groups
Somalia, a fragile country in the Horn of Africa that has been fighting a radical Islamist Shebab insurgency for 15 years, has been without a new head of state for more than a year. President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, also known as Farmajo, has been in office since 2017, and his term will expire on February 8, 2021, without having struck a deal with regional leaders on election arrangements.
The announcement in mid-April that his mandate would be extended for another two years sparked violent riots in Mogadishu. Farmajo had assigned his Prime Minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, with organizing the elections as a show of good faith. However, tensions between the two men grew as time went on, delaying the procedure.
The upper house elections were finished by the end of 2021. Mohamed Hussein Roble and regional leaders agreed in early January to finish the lower house election cycle, which began in November, by February 25. Farmajo had expressed his support for the deal.
Postponements on a regular basis
The international community is concerned about the frequent postponements, believing that they are diverting attention away from matters that are critical to the country, such as the Shebab insurgency. Following the delay on February 25, the US imposed visa restrictions on key persons suspected of “undermining the democratic process in Somalia.”
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had informed AFP a few days before that financial help to the country, which was due to expire automatically in May, was in jeopardy if a new administration was not in place by then.
The United Nations, through its representative in the nation, James Swan, also urged the authorities to “speed up and finalize” the lower house elections.