MOGADISHU (HOL) — Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed has lost a vote of confidence in parliament today after less than one year in office.
Announcing the result of the vote, Mohamed Osman Jawari, speaker of the Federal Parliament, said that 153 MPs out of 235 voted in favor of removing the Prime Minister from office, 80 MPs voted against the motion and two MPs abstained.
According to Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed will remain in office until President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud nominates a new prime minister, who will then have 30 days to appoint a new cabinet.
Abdiweli Sheikh Ahmed has been in office since December 21, 2013, and is Somalia’s second prime minister in less than one year.
Ahmed’s predecessor, Abdi Farah Shirdon, was also removed from office in December last year after similar dispute with President Mohamoud over cabinet appointments.
The tensions between Prime Minister Ahmed and President Mohamud escalated on Oct. 25 when the president accused the prime minister of reshuffling his cabinet without consulting him, and demoting a close ally of the president, Farah Abdiqadir, transferring him from the minister of justice and constitutional affairs to the minister of livestock and animal husbandry.
President Mohamud opposed the changes and declared the reshuffle null and void, and organized the Somali parliament to lodge an appeal for a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Abdiweli.