By Suleiman Sabdow

MOGADISHU – Somalia’s Council of presidential candidates have called for a national consultative forum to map the way forward on the current electoral stalemate the Horn of Africa Nation is going through after their repeated calls for the halting of the process fell on deaf ears.

The council has decried about what they termed as “naked riggings” and violations of the electoral regularities saying that the electoral commission and the Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble have failed to hear their grievances about holding a transparent and free and fair elections.

“It is clear to the council that no one is responsible for stopping the electoral fraud and taking corrective measures.It is also clear that the federal and state government officials are not interested in a free and transparent election, in order to save the country from political and security instability,” read the statement in part.

The Union further said that it is committed to ensuring that the country holds a credible elections and would not sit on their laurels as the country thrusts into uncertainty in the coming days and would take measures to salvage the country from the current quagmire that has clouded the ongoing parliamentary elections.

The council also outlined that they are appointing a Conference Organizing Committee and a Conference Security Committee to mobilize an upcoming conference which they said is aimed at resolving contentious issues bedeviling the electoral process of the country.

The statement from the council comes barely days after the Electoral commission chairman Mohamed Irro said they would not stop the ongoing House of representatives elections and called on the opposition of presidential candidates to table their plights to the body so that they can be addressed instead of calling for the halting of the ongoing elections.

Somalia is holding parliamentary elections after a long successful voting of Upper House elections and the current ongoing parliamentary elections has been married with purported claims of riggings by the Opposition and sometimes heaping blame on the Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble for failing to hold a free and fair elections.

The Federal Electoral and Implementation commission (FEIT) has so far suspended some seats in Baidoa saying it has been cancelled due to claims of malpractices.

The suspended seats are HOP103 and HOP154, and the commission said they would be re-elected.

The commission also said that seats in Galmudug were being investigated.

The two seats were one previously occupied by re-elected Sareedo Mohamed and the other, being the seat which was held by former Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, who alleged he was barred from contesting, and was replaced by South West Administration Transport Minister Mohamed Ali.