Sunday July 11, 2021
MOGADISHU, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Somali President Mohamed Farmajo on Sunday congratulated Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali for his ruling party's winning the June 21 parliamentary elections in a landslide.
President Farmajo said the victory by Ethiopia's ruling Prosperity Party which won 410 out of the 436 seats contested during the parliamentary election will enable Abiy to regain a strong mandate from the people of Ethiopia.
"Somalia will continue to work with his government to further strengthen our bilateral relations to benefit our two people and the wider region. I wish you great success, prime minister," Farmajo said in a Tweet post.
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) which made the announcement on Saturday had postponed twice the June 21 vote because of the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical problems.
It plans to hold a second round of national elections on Sept. 6 in the rest of the electoral constituencies, except in 38 electoral constituencies located in Ethiopia's war-torn northern Tigray regional state.
Ethiopia's new government is expected to be formed in October where Abiy, who came to power in 2018 after the former prime minister resigned due to widespread protests, is assured of a second five-year term.
Under Ethiopia's parliamentary government system, the prime minister who is the highest authority of the land is selected from the party that wins the most seats at the federal parliament level and will be sworn in after the parliamentary vote.