Somaliland Parliament picks Bashe Mohamed a new Speaker

HARGEISA, Somaliland - The house of representative for the northern breakaway region of Somaliland has elected Bashe Mohamed Farah as the new speaker on Sunday, Garowe Online reports.

During the voting, members of the State Parliament voted among the two candidates Bashe Mohamed Farah, former deputy speaker and Abdirahman Talyanale running for the leadership.

In a show of hand vote, the MPs elected Farah as the new speaker with a narrow victory of 39 votes against his contender, Talyanale who secured 38 votes, according to the election result.

Farah - a member of the ruling KULMIYE party, will replace Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi "Irro", who resigned from the post as Speaker of Somaliland assembly on Wednesday, August 2.

Irro has left office after 12 years in power, in pursuit for running the forthcoming presidential elections as WADDANI part flag bearer, challenging other candidates from UCID and KULMIYE.

In 2015, the newly elected speaker Farah and his predecessor Irro have engaged in brawl during an argument over a vote by the Parliament on the privatization of Berbera Oil terminal.

Somaliland is heading to a Presidential Election slated for November 13th, 2017, with candidates from the three main Political parties - KULMIYE (ruling party), UCID and WADDANI.

The region has declared its independence from the rest of Somalia on May 18, 1991, however, it has not still received a legal recognition from the international community.

GAROWEONLINE