Somali election postponed due to dispute over selection of delegates- lawmaker

Elections in Somalia to choose a new parliament have been postponed  due to a dispute over how to select delegates who will elect the legislators, a lawmaker said.

24th September  was the day polling stations were set to open in the regional capitals, the Federal Indirect Elections Implementing Team, FIEIT and its state level equivalent were still held up in a meeting to iron out contentious issues.

Mohamed Iidle Ghedi, lawmaker, said that the selection of delegates has caused dispute within the clans and this led the list of the delegates to delay.

“No election is going on as the clans have disputed over the selection of the delegates,” said Ghedi.

The election was originally planned for last month but it was postponed to allow for more time for preparations.

The international community committed to meet 60 per cent of the budget while Somalia would clear the rest through Federal Government purse and candidates fees. Besides the technical aspects of the elections, security remains a key challenge.

Al-Shabaab has vowed to disrupt the upcoming Somali elections who over 14,000 people representing federal states across the nation will participate.

Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdisalam Omer says that as a result of successful joint operations by the Somali military and the African Union’s peacekeeping force “we have militarily defeated the evil that is Al Shabaab.”

He said the Al Shabaab extremist group controls less than 10 per cent of the country and many of its leaders have been killed or have defected in recent months.