A deadlock in an electoral dispute in HirShabelle state was resolved on Sunday, following the intervention of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia Michael Keating and the Special Representative of the AU Commission Chairperson (SRCC) Ambassador Francisco Caetano Madeira.
SRSG Keating and Ambassador Madeira negotiated a settlement in a dispute between two clans, which had resulted in a temporary suspension of the electoral process in the state.
“We recognize that there would be political challenges, but we believe despite those challenges, having the rules respected will bring great benefits to a new state and will send a signal to the rest of Somalia and to the international community,” SRSG Keating said, shortly after meeting the State-level Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (SIEIT) and HirShabelle President Ali Abdullahi Osoble.
“Our message to the president and to the SIEIT and to everyone, is that the rules of the process as set down by the National Leadership Forum need to be respected including the quota for women, which means in HirShabelle 11 women will be elected to the Lower House,” SRSG Keating emphasized.
HirShabelle state has an allocation of 37 seats in the federal parliament’s House of the People.
HirShabelle President Ali Abdullahi acknowledged the importance of the special seats for women.
“We agreed to accelerate the electoral process, respect and consider the quota for women and how we could work together to support the administration of HirShabelle,” the President stated.
Ambassador Francisco Madeira pledged support to the newly formed state administration.
“AMISOM is here, we will support you in terms of security and we will support you politically,” Ambassador Madeira told HirShabelle President Ali Abdullahi.
“The chairperson of the AU greets the new President and expresses her admiration for the speed with which he is trying to adapt to the new reality and the determination with which he is trying to push forward all the decisions that were taken with regard to the elections,” SRCC Madeira added.
FIEIT will release new dates for resumption of elections in the state.
Separately, voting for Lower House representatives continued in South West state, where three candidates were elected MPs.
Abdirashid Mohamed Ahmed, the federal minister of Industry and Trade was among the three candidates who emerged victorious in the balloting exercise.
Mohamed Abdullahi Mursal, South West state SIEIT chairman announced that delegates from Lower Shabelle region would start registering for the voting exercise tomorrow.
“This was one of the few challenges we had and which we have now overcome,” he said.
Elections in South West state have been smooth, without incidents. Somali security forces working jointly with AMISOM military and police have provided adequate security to all electoral centers.
“The committee (for security coordination) has done a wonderful job right from the time we started registration up to the time where we are, we have not had any serious incidents as far security is concerned,” said SSP Ambayo John Gray, a member of the election security coordinating team.
South West state has so far elected 30 members of the Lower House, out of an allocation of 69 seats. The SIEIT hopes to conclude the elections in the next ten days.