Int’l community calls for “timely, credible” electoral process in Somalia

The international community has called for timely and credible electoral process in Somalia and pledged funding of the polls slated for between September and October.

Foreign envoys from the United Nations, the Africa Union, the European Union, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development, Britain, the United States, Sweden and Italy in a joint statement received in Mogadishu on Saturday urged the Somali political leaders to stick to the electoral calendar.

They called on all stakeholders to abide by the revised calendar for the electoral process “without further delay”, and reiterated their support for the electoral process.

“The international community is working with the relevant Somali stakeholders on measures to maximize the technical integrity, transparency and credibility of the electoral process,” the statement said.

“International partners have committed funding, administered through mechanisms set up under the auspices of the United Nations, to ensure that the electoral process can be implemented without additional delays and that a mechanism for timely disbursement is in place,” it said.

The envoys also welcomed the preparations underway for the implementation of Somalia’s 2016 electoral process, which will see the country hold the indirect elections.

This comes after Somalia’s Federal Indirect Elections Implementation Team (FIEIT) released a timetable for the 2016 electoral process.
The timetable, which sets out the process to choose a new federal parliament between Sept. 24 and Oct. 10 and president by Oct. 30, was endorsed by Somalia’s National Leadership Forum.

Some 51 constituency members will elect each MP, which means 14,025 citizens will take part in the indirect elections.

If this goes according to the plan, there is hope that the country will hold its first fair and free one-person one-vote elections by 2020.
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