NCC push back Somali elections again to March 15

Thursday February 24, 2022

Mogadishu (HOL) - Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble announced that a new deadline of March 15 had been set for Somalia’s parliamentary election just hours before the previous deadline was set to expire on Friday.

The decision to grant an 18-day extension to Somalia’s long-delayed polls was reached following a National Consultative Council meeting on Thursday evening that included the PM and the leaders of Somalia’s federal member states.

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Despite promises from the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT) that the polls would be complete by February 25, the deadline was expected to be missed by many observers as just 176 of the 275 Lower House MPs have been elected.

Somalia’s polls are more than a year behind schedule, and the frequent delays have threatened the country’s political stability. The political tensions are most visible in the constant flare-ups within Somalia’s executive branch.

The electoral process has also been riddled with accusations of widespread fraud and rigging. Candidates have filed complaints that they were barred from running, saying that they were replaced with dummy candidates - known locally as ‘best man’ - thereby securing an uncontested path to victory for the well-connected candidates, often including intelligence officers.

Al-Shabaab has taken advantage of the electoral dysfunction by targeting delegates. Six people were killed and another 12 were injured on February 10 when a suicide bomber ripped through a minibus full of delegates passing a busy junction heading to the presidential palace. The delegates were unharmed in the attack.

The delays have also threatened Somalia’s financial recovery plan, with the IMF announcing this week that their planned economic reforms may not be endorsed in time for its scheduled review in mid-May. Somalia’s debt-relief agreement - which would reduce its debt from $5.2bn to $557m - would be in jeopardy if It were to miss the review.

The US government warned that there would be consequences if the Friday deadline were to be missed, including visa restrictions on current or former officials “responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Somalia."

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