MOGADISHU – The United States has called on the regional state leaders of Somalia to expedite the conclusion of the ongoing parliamentary in the country amid growing concerns by stakeholders and council of opposition presidential candidates who had threatened to boycott the ongoing elections decrying about irregularities and what they termed as ” naked riggings” and violations of the existing laws governing the holding of transparent elections.
In a press statement posted on their official Twitter handle, US embassy in Somalia urged the regional president of Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland, South West and Puntland to fastrack the process of holding a credible, free fair and transparent elections admissible to everyone.
We urge @SaidAbdullahiDe, @PresidentMadobe, @MrQoorqoor, @GudlaweHussein, and @Laftagareen to avoid further delays and swiftly conclude credible, transparent, and inclusive elections. A timely, broadly accepted process is critical to #Somalia’s future. https://t.co/m7NgazpfcM
— U.S. Embassy Mogadishu, Somalia (@US2SOMALIA) December 15, 2021
This comes a day after Somalia’s electoral dispute resolution committee, federal electoral implementation team and international donors met to discuss on the speeding up of the completion of the electoral work and date.
The Embassy in the meeting underscored the need for credible elections in Somalia.
Somalia’s opposition has called for a national consultative forum which they say is tailored on deliberating the next path on the current electoral stalemate the country is experiencing after their repeated calls for halting of the process fell on deaf ears.
On Wednesday, the Electoral Dispute Resolution team ruled on the case of the contested Lower House seat won by acting National Intelligence Security and Agency (NISA) boss Yasin Farey last month in Galmudug.
The commission exonerated Farey who is considered as a close ally of president Farmaajo of malpractices and gave the process a clean bill of health and said that it was conducted in the right way.
The opposition contemplates the candidature and election of the top spy chief Yassin Farey as a thorn in the flesh and a rubber stamp of the stay of Farmajo in power.
Somalia is holding parliamentary elections after a long successful vote of Upper House elections and the current ongoing parliamentary elections has been married with alleged claims of riggings with the union of opposition presidential candidates saying that majority of the elected MPs in the ongoing elections are pro-Farmajo and Fahad Yassin though Villa Somalia has downplayed the claims.
