The electoral committee announced the new postponement on Tuesday evening, which prolongs political uncertainty in this unstable country in the Horn of Africa, facing one of its worst droughts in decades and the insurgency of radical Islamists shebabs.
At the end of February, the government had postponed to March 15 the deadline for completing the appointment of members of the lower house. But on Tuesday, 39 of the 275 seats remained to be filled in three states (20 in Jubaland, 13 in Hirshabelle and 6 in Puntland), according to official results.
In a new calendar published on Tuesday evening, the federal body in charge of organizing the elections announced that the “official final result” would be announced on March 31 and that the swearing-in ceremony would be held on April 14.
The closing of the lower house elections, repeatedly postponed, is a major step towards the election of a new president. Under Somalia’s complex electoral system, federal state assemblies and delegates from a myriad of clans and sub-clans choose lawmakers who then appoint the president.
Somalia has been waiting for more than a year for the election of a new head of state.
President since 2017, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, saw his mandate expire on February 8, 2021 without being able to agree with regional leaders on the organization of elections.
The announcement in mid-April of the extension of his mandate for two years sparked armed clashes in Mogadishu.
In a gesture of appeasement, Farmajo had instructed his Prime Minister, Mohamed Hussein Roble, to organize the elections. But the tensions between the two men multiplied therefollowing, delaying the process.
Elections for the upper house ended in late 2021. In early January, Mr. Roble and regional leaders reached an agreement to complete by February 25 the electoral cycle for the lower house, which began in November. Farmajo had affirmed its support for the agreement.
