By Suleiman Sabdow
Mogadishu – Somalia’s federal electoral body chairman Mohamed Hassan Irro has announced that the elections for Somalia’s Lower House of Parliament elections will officially kick off next week.
According to the chairman of the commission, they are welll prepared to handle the polls and urged top political leaders in Somalia to collaborate with them in a bid to facilitate the implementation of the parliamentary vote.
“Our election process has been dragging on for a long time, but the prospects are good now. We have promised the Parliamentary elections will take place as soon as possible, and we have all the tools to carry out the election process.”
He further corroborated that the electoral commission would issue the voting centres and stations with all the necessary election materials, such as ballot papers, booth and other essential items needed in the exercise.
Irro’s statement barely comes a week after delegates from the Northern Regions of Somaliland held the first elections for the incoming lower house representatives
Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled and Bihi Iman Egeh emerged victors.
However, Outgoing MP Hussein Arab Isse claimed that Guled’s seat was won through bribery and fraud.
The International partners in a joint press release on Friday said they are concerned about the electoral delays and urged President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to come out and expedite the elections.
In a joint statement issued today, #Somalia's international partners have called for faster progress on the country's #elections. Read more here: https://t.co/mKVVcCF0uo pic.twitter.com/pbC4XUSWtr
— UNSOM (@UNSomalia) November 5, 2021
Somalia has not held a successful direct one-person, one-vote election since 1969 when late president and dictator Siad Barre led a coup and toppled the government and ruled for two decades before the collapse of his regime in 1991 leading to decades of civil wars and caused a large scale of humanitarian crisis in the country.
