Former Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke has warned that the regional states should be given the power to manage the federal parliamentary elections. He said that the move would put the country in a worse situation than the previous elections.
Omar Abdirashid said that the presidents of the regional states who had already won seats in the previous elections are still in power, and if they are given the opportunity to influence the election administration again, it would be a big mistake for the Somali people and their political representation.
“It would be a shame if the regional states were given the power to manage the elections again. Even if the number of people is increased or the states are given the power to manage the elections, the result will not be different from the previous one. An independent national commission should be established, in which the regional states have no say,” said Omar Abdirashid.
The former Prime Minister called for the Federal Government to establish a single national commission to independently manage the parliamentary elections. He recommended that the federal-level electoral commissions that were appointed by the regional states be abolished, and that the national commission directly appoint the personnel who will administer the regional state elections.
Omar Abdirashid said that the biggest mistake made in the previous elections was that the regional states were allowed to select the electoral delegates, which led to many seats being stolen.
He also pointed out that one of the other mistakes that occurred was that there was no independent committee to complain about seat disputes, or to distinguish between seats that were wrongly obtained and those that were the subject of complaints.
