Somalia: Constitutional committee urges presidential elections this year

Shafi'i Abokar
Mogadishu, Somalia
April 26, 2011

The national constitutional committee of the federal parliament of Somalia on Tuesday called on the government to agree to have presidential elections before the mandate of the transitional federal government (TFG) ends in August.

The call was announced at the end of a meeting by the members of the constitutional and federal affairs committee held in Mogadishu.

“It is necessary that the presidential elections are held before the end of the mandate of the transitional federal government—despite difficulties in the country the election must take place at home on time,” the deputy chairman of the constitutional committee, Abdulkader Sheik Ismail, told reporters.

“Somalia will be at risk if elections are not conducted on time and the TFG’s mandate ends, so we call on Somali president and the prime minister to respect the parliament’s decision and accept elections before August,” he added.

On Monday, the electoral commission announced that elections must take place before the end of August and that there would not be any postponement.

However, the Somali president and the prime minister insist that elections are impossible to be held, saying that before August next year Somalia is not fully prepared for presidential or parliamentary elections.

Source: All Headline News (AHN).
Link: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/90046436?Somalia%3A%20Constitutional%20committee%20urges%20presidential%20elections%20this%20year.