UN disappointed about delay in Somalia elections
The UN Security Council has expressed regret about the delay in Somalia’s elections, urging the government to hold the parliamentary and presidential votes on the new dates without further postponement.
"The Security Council regrets the delay to the original timeline, and calls on all Somali stakeholders to work constructively to implement the revised calendar without further delay," the council said in a statement on Friday.
National elections were scheduled to be held in Somalia this year but the government decided to only hold a limited franchise election where ordinary people have no vote.
Somalia’s UN-sponsored election team recently announced a delayed presidential vote on October 30, following parliamentary elections from September 24 to October 10. The elections had been scheduled to take place in August.
The Security Council further said "the need to maintain the momentum toward democratic governance, with an inclusive, transparent and credible electoral process in 2016 as a stepping stone to universal suffrage elections in 2020."
Britain's Ambassador to the UN Matthew Rycroft, who presented the declaration, said "it is important that the Security Council remain united on this issue."
"We are disappointed that the elections have been delayed by a couple of months," he stated, adding, "It is important that the new schedule is maintained without further delays... a stepping stone for the full one-man, one-vote elections in 2020."
Parliamentarians will be selected by clan elders. Each of the federal states in the country will choose representatives to a new upper house; and the two houses of parliament will then vote for a president.
Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has begun campaigning for a second term.
Somalia has been in chaos since 1991, when warlords ousted then President Mohamed Siad Barre.
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