The presidential election in Somalia has been delayed over a year. With ensuing gun battles after its delay, officials have stated that the delay was because of internal quarrels within government officials. After multiple postponements, a recent statement was released in which officials have declared the election to be set between the periods of Jan15 and Feb 25.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed was elected in 2017 and his term was supposed to end in February of 2021. But a year later, he’s still in office with a delayed presidential election. The January 15 agreement took a while, as President Abdullahi and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble have not seen eye to eye on many issues, including the election date. And its continuous delay may have paradoxically been the catalyst to political feuds and instability, when its delay was to prevent that.
In Nov of 2020, the Council of Presidential Candidates issued a statement, calling for the dismissal of the electoral commissions and accusing President Abdullahi of impeding a seamless election. Roble and other government officials postponed the presidential elections once again to October of 2021.
Roble had scheduled the Upper House election on July 25, the Lower House election between August 10 and September 10 and the presidential election on October 10. He stated after a couple of days meeting in Mogadishu that officials agreed over the timetable of the election.
“I commend the leaders of the council and hope the election will be a peaceful and transparent one, based on the agreed-upon schedule and processes,” Roble tweeted on Jun 29, 2021.
But shortly after the election dates were set, quarrels reappeared between the leaders with accusations from both sides. President Abdullahi suspended the Prime Minister Roble for corruption and misuse of land that was owned by the Somali National Army (SNA). The President Office announced that “The president decided to suspend [the] prime minister … and stop his powers since he was linked with corruption.” But Roble wasn’t shy of accusing the president of disregarding the constitution and attempting a coup.
This continuous discord caused that date to be pushed back once again to 2022. While this feud took up the better part of 2021, after several days of negotiations among state leaders and led by Roble, new election dates have been set. This looks to be the final postponement of the elections. In a recent statement, officials have declared the election to begin on Jan15 and is now in motion. Elections are expected to run till Feb 25.