Rift widens as int'l community calls for single agreed electoral process in Somalia

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Rift widens as int'l community calls for single agreed electoral process in Somalia

MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) – Somalia's international partners welcome the nomination of State-level Electoral Implementation Teams for Jubaland and Puntland, presented on 27 January amid uncertainty on the elections of the Horn of African c

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UN envoy to Somalia, James Swan and Hirshabelle State president hold a joint press conference in Jowhar on Thursday 28 Jan, 2021. (PHOTO/ UNSOM).

MOGADISHU (HORN OBSERVER) – Somalia's international partners welcome the nomination of State-level Electoral Implementation Teams for Jubaland and Puntland, presented on 27 January amid uncertainty on the elections of the Horn of African country.

'While overdue, this positive step can help to create conditions for the rapid implementation of the 17 September electoral model in an inclusive and consensual manner," says a joint statement by African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, and the United Nations.

"International partners fully endorse the proposal to urgently convene a meeting between the Federal Government and Federal Member State leaders, to resolve the remaining electoral implementation issues in order for credible and inclusive elections to proceed," they added.

Credible and inclusive outcome

The foreign partners call for a single agreed electoral process – without parallel or partial alternatives – that will be conducted peacefully with protection of political space and media freedom, guarantees the 30 per cent women’s quota, and results in a credible and inclusive outcome that serves the national interest.

"Holding timely, credible elections is a vital element of the partnership between Somalia and the international community. International partners urge all Somali leaders to make fair compromises necessary to ensure credible elections," the joint release on Friday concluded.

On Wednesday Jubbaland and Puntland, the only two remaining states that have not appointed their part of the Indirect Electoral Commission– a body tasked to hold the 2021 elections– have released the names of the Commission members. However, the Federal Government's Interior Minister rebuffed the appointment as 'illegal one that does not fit the required criteria for appointing Electoral Commission members".

Political analysts warn that the continued stalemate on the process of the elections and lack of mutual consensus within the political sides might risk Somalia's fragile stability and could embolden al-Shabaab attacks.