SENATE POLLS: 48% of candidates pulled out, no woman elected in contest with men

GOOBJOOG NEWS|SOMALIA: All the eight senators in Galmudug state who contested in the recently concluded Senate elections did not face any contest after their rivals withdrew from the race while South West state was the only state where all candidates faced their rivals.

A compilation of the election trends by Goobjoog News also shows that 82% of the candidates in Puntland pulled out of the race which sought to elect 11 senators.

HirShabelle state came second after South West with 88% of the candidates facing their rivals. Also notable is that only HirShabelle presented the most diverse pool of candidates from across the political divide as the rest went for cronies and political allies.

Overall, only 52% of the seats were contested with a whooping 48% of the candidates withdrawing from the race.

On women quota, no woman won a contest against a male candidate in all Federal Member States. All the 14 women elected secured their seats in the women-only seats. The FMS fell short of four points in attaining the 30% threshold.