MOGADISCIO (Reuters) – The Somali president and prime minister on Sunday accused each other of obstructing the electoral process, adding to the instability in the Horn of Africa state facing an insurgency by Islamist Shebab.
The legislative elections, which began on November 1, were due to end on December 24, but a newly elected parliamentarian, Mohamed Sheikh Mursal, said on Saturday that only 24 of the 275 representatives had been elected.
In a statement released on Sunday by his services, Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed declared that the head of government, Mohamed Hussein Roble, represents “a serious threat to the electoral process and exceeds his mandate”.
Mohamed Hussein Roble replied in a statement, accusing the head of state of having spent time, energy and money to obstruct national elections and “derail the electoral process”.
The US State Department on Sunday expressed “deep concern” at “delays and irregularities which undermine the credibility of the process.”
The regional councils of this federal state were called upon to designate the lower house of Parliament which, with the already elected Senate, must elect a successor to the outgoing president, who is seeking a new mandate.
Mohamed Hussein Roble, in charge of the organization and security of the polls, announced meetings on Monday to speed up the electoral process.
The services of the outgoing president specified for their part that Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed would also hold a meeting in order to decide on a supervisory authority for “transparent and on time” elections.
(Abdi Sheikh report, with the contribution of KanishkaSingh, written Ayenat Mersie, French version Sophie Louet)
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