Somali parliamentary election, 2016

Somalia
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Somalia
A woman delegate from HirShabelle State casts her vote during the electoral process to choose members of the Lower House of the Somali federal Parliament in Jowhar

The next parliamentary elections in Somalia was scheduled to be held in October and November 2016. The Upper House was to be elected on 10 October, with voting taking place for the Lower House elected between 23 October and 10 November 2016.[1] They will be the first elections since 1984, and it was originally scheduled that the new Parliament will elect the President on 30 November.[2][3] As of 1 December, the presidential election has not taken place, and only approximately 50% of parliamentary elections have taken place, due to instability in the region.[4]

Background

The term of the unelected Parliament of the Government of Somalia, sworn in in 2012, expires in 2016.[5] In 2012 only 135 elders were part of the electoral process and this year the number has been expanded to 14,000.[6]

Only limited suffrage is granted since the election model under debate relies on clan elders and community representatives rather than a popular vote, and the Islamic insurgence could make difficult to carry a nationwide election with participation of all citizens.[3][7]

The civil war and division of the country is still ongoing and al-Shabaab, while not originally assumed to derail the elections[8] has postponed the process.

Electoral system

The 54 members members of the Upper House will be elected by the state assemblies.[1]

The 275 members of the Lower House will be elected by 14,025 delegates from different regions in the country.[1] Each MP will be elected by an electoral college of 51 people appointed by the 135 Traditional Elders.[1] From the 51 delegates 16 are supposed to be women, 10 from the youth community and the remaining 25 are members of the civil society. From the 275 MPs, 69 Mps will be chosen in Baidoa while the remaining will hail from other cities.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Fact sheet on Somalia's 2016 electoral process UNSOM
  2. ↑ Conor Gaffey (8 August 2016). "SOMALIA SETS ELECTIONS DATES, DESPITE AL-SHABAB THREAT". Newsweek. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 Abdi Sheikh (10 August 2016). "Somalia to move to party politics in bid to cut clan rivalry". Mogadishu: Reuters. Retrieved 10 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Craig, Jill (1 December 2016). "Somali Election Process Drags On". VOA. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  5. ↑ "Somalia president says free and fair elections inevitable in 2016". jowhar.com.
  6. ↑ Dahir, Abdi Latif. "Democracy is thriving in Somalia, even with less than 1% of people voting in the upcoming election". Retrieved 2016-09-25.
  7. ↑ Seeking stability in Somalia's election season The Africa Report, 9 June 2016
  8. ↑ "Al-Shabab militants to try to derail 2016 Somalia elections: UN". CTVNews.
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