Hiiraan Online
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
A total of 14 members of parliament from both Jubbaland and Southwest were elected to the Lower House today in the first round of polling. Each respective region elected 7 members to the lower house of Parliament in what was hailed as a successfull and peaceful vote according to observers and participants.
“The first phase of the elections went really well. There were no hiccups at all and the process today has ended peacefully. We have achieved our set goal for today,” said Mohamed Abdullahi Mursal, chairman of the South West State-Level Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (SIEIT).
The incumbent speaker of the Somali parliament Mohamed Osman Jawari was the first parliamentarian to be elected to the lower house after successfully defending his seat against Mr. Abdirahman Sheikh Ibrahim in Baidoa.
He said that this electoral process is a step in the right direction from 2012 because it is more inclusive.
“Previously, we had only one person selecting a representative, today we have 51 delegates electing the leader of their choice,” said the former Speaker, referring to the increase of delegates in each electoral college.
In Kismaayo, the Jubbaland polls station was equally as successful as they elected their representatives to the House of the People. Three of the seven candidates elected in Jubbaland today were women in accordance with current election laws.
“It is the first time in the history of Somalia that Jubbaland is voting in free and fair elections. Although it is not a one-person, one-vote election, it is a positive step forward for Somalia and the people of Jubbaland,” the Jubbaland SIEIT chairman Adi Ali Raghe said.
Security at both polling stations was tight as Somali security forces and AMISOM troops guarded the area. Al Shabaab has vowed to disrupt elections and threatened to attack polling stations directly.
SSP John Grey of the AMISOM police said that the training provided to state police in Southwest proved to be effective as they did a good job securing the stations.
“Our mandate as AMISOM is to build capacity of the Somali police and the individuals so that they provide and secure the lives of the people of Somalia. As part of this, we trained 104 state police here in South West state and today you have seen them, these people have the energy, morale and that pride to do the work. All the points we deployed them we have seen them do their work. They are searching, they are able to regulate in some orderliness and even where people were coming in at the holding ground, they were doing their work,” said Mr. Grey
“Our job is to secure the elections in Southwest. Everything went well today and we are working day and night to ensure an incident-free election,” added Col. Mahad Abdirahman, a member of the Electoral Security Task Force in Baidoa.
275 members will be elected to Somalia's 10th parliament in the coming days as other regional states prepare to hold elections in the coming days. The Presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 30.