Friday April 1, 2022
Mogadishu (HOL) - The Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT) has announced the results of the parliamentary elections of the two Houses of the Federal Parliament of Somalia, with over two dozen seats yet to be filled.
245 Lower House MPs have been named by the federal electoral commission to go along with the 54 Upper House Senators already elected.
Somalia is well-short of its goal to ensure a 30% women's quota, with only 64 females (19%) elected to both Houses of Parliament.
The FEIT did not include four seats in the list that have been suspended. Three of those seats are from Southwest State, including the seat of the former chairman of the parliament, Mohamed Osman Jawari. The only disputed Hirshabelle seat excluded from the list was the HOP086 seat, which was held by Farah Sheikh Abdulkadir and controversially won by the former NISA director and Farmajo's national security advisor Fahad Yassin.
The election commission has previously said it has suspended the results of Fahad Yassin's election, citing electoral irregularities and allegations of vote-rigging.
The Prime Minister's Office has welcomed the list released by the federal electoral commission, stressing that the long-delayed elections must end in mid-April when MPs are sworn into office.
"HE Prime Minister Mohamed H Roble congratulates FEIT for announcing the results of the elected MPs of the House of People & the Upper House in accordance with the electoral process agreed upon, urges them to adhere to the swearing-in Schedule of the MPs which ends on April 14."The electoral commission informed the MPs to come to Mogadishu on April 2 to be awarded their parliamentary certificates and prepare to be sworn in.
A rift is already brewing between the Prime Minister's office and Villa Somalia over the FEIT list, which has led to fears of further delays in the federal elections, which still have to elect 26 MPs from Hirshabelle and Jubbaland. Elections in Jubbaland's Gedo region have yet to begin.
The parliamentary quorum to hold presidential elections, which is two-thirds (2/3) of the total, has been elected.
The international community has repeatedly called for an end to what has been Somalia's most protracted election campaign, and it is yet to be seen whether the latest timetable set by the FEIT will be met.