Thursday, July 30, 2015
Somalia has scrapped plans to hold a general election in 2016 to choose the country’s next president because of security concerns and political instability, according to a government committee.
Somali lawmakers chose Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud as president in 2012 and the government had pledged to hold a national vote the next time. The state is trying to establish its authority more than two decades after the ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre plunged the country into conflict, spawning an insurgency by Islamist militant group al-Shabaab.
A “one man, one vote” election won’t be possible next year due to “several reasons, including the upsurge of violence and the political turmoil,” according to the statement released by a committee guiding a reform plan known as Vision 2016, on Wednesday in the capital, Mogadishu. The government will consult with civil society and traditional elders in a review of the timing of the vote, it said.
In the previous election process, tribal elders representing the country’s different clans nominated lawmakers.
On July 26, a car-bombing at a Mogadishu hotel killed at least 12 people and damaged China’s embassy, which is based in the facility. Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack. While African Union forces and the Somali army have dislodged the militants from large tracts of territory, al-Shabaab has proven capable of repeatedly striking the heart of the capital city.