#ElectionsSo: Fear of poll delay as key deadline missed
The prospects of elections delays have surfaced as the deadline for the formation of the Federal and State Level electoral committees as envisaged by the schedule agreed to by the two levels of government last month lapses.
According to the schedule which is part of the Mogadishu Electoral Model settled to by the Federal Government and the Federal Member States, the formation of the two committees which draws membership from the two levels of government was set to be done from October 10th to 20th.
From October 21-30, the committees are supposed to undergo training on how they will conduct the elections set to kick off in December. So far, the National Consultative Forum (NCF) which comprises of the President and FMS leaders is yet to issue a statement on the status of the process.
According to the timetable, the selection of the delegates and preparation of polling stations are slated for the whole of November to pave way for the election of Senators by the FMS parliament from December 1-10.
Notable also is that there is yet no clarity on the selection of the delegates. Unlike in the 2016 elections when clan elders were solely tasked with the selection of delegates, in the current model, both the clan elders and civil society representatives will take part in the process. The manner in which the selection of the civil society groups will be arrived at remains unclear.
Election of the 275 Lower House chamber will begin from December 10 to 27 upon which the two houses will prepare for the election of a new president between February 1st and 8th.
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