​Somalia: Puntland announces revised Upper House candidates list

GAROWE, Puntland- After women’s group has denounced Puntland government for not observing women quota in the original list of Upper House candidates, and mounting pressure from Somalia’s electoral body and UN for women representation in the process, Puntland government has announced on Sunday the amended list of Upper House candidates, Garowe Online reports.

The new list saw Puntland President nominating women candidates in accordance to the National Leadership Forum (NLF) agreement to commit to 30-percent quota for women in the ongoing electoral process.

On the other hand, Puntland President has axed Second Deputy Speaker of Federal Parliament Mahad Abdalla Awad and MP Yasin Abdi Saed from the new list.

However, early report by GO has indicated that Puntland President is re-nominating the candidates and opted to allocate women candidates for seat representation of Mudug and Sool regions.

But close sources told GO that Puntland Vice President has opposed Puntland President decision to select women candidates for Sool region, a matter which flared up disagreement between Puntland leadership.

Puntland President whose in overseas trip to UAE, has nominated the new candidates for the Upper House chamber of Federal Parliament amid ongoing differences with Vice President over the selection of candidates.

The move has prompted the Vice President to call Puntland Parliament to suspend the scheduled ballot, which could have threatened the ongoing electoral process, but state parliamentarians intervened and held talks with Vice President to resolve the differences before degenerating into deadlock over the nomination process.

However, the ballot for candidates representing Puntland state in the Upper House chamber is expected to take place in Puntland Parliament this week, over 22 candidates will compete for the 11 seats quota.

Somalia’s Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation team (FIEIT) has previously extended the deadline for Upper House nomination till October 10, after failure of regional leaders to meet deadline in October 5. 

Somalia is in race of time as the country is preparing to hold parliamentary and presidential elections that is scheduled to conclude in November 30.

GAROWEONLINE