Hiiraan Online
Saturday, August 27, 2016
MOGADISHU (HOL) – With less than a month left for Somalia to hold a presidential election, a new dispute over the sums of money the government would have to allocate for the upcoming election process is brewing between Somali leaders and the international community amid concerns over slow electoral process and ‘vagueness’ in leaders’ spending plans, sources said Saturday.
Racing against time, Somali government has recently announced that the election of a new president will take place on Oct. 30. The government had previously scheduled presidential elections in August, before the incumbent president’s term expires.
Members of the international community have been holding meetings behind closed doors with Somali leaders to settle a fixed budget for the election in recent weeks, with the money’s management formula and outgoings’ organization remain key sticking points that both sides are struggling to figure out.
Sources privy with the ongoing talks told HOL that members of the international community demanded a ‘detailed’ spending plan by the government before they agree on the certain amount of money is allocated for the electoral process.
Helen Clark, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme who visited Somali capital for talks this week had earlier urged Somali leaders to speed up the electoral process to enable holding timely elections.
In addition, Michael Keating, the United Nations envoy to Somalia who’s leading the talks between members of the international community and Somali leaders has also called for the implementation of the federal electoral process to proceed to presidential elections.
The development comes as Somali leaders and members of the National Consultative Forum continue to discuss about the selection and the budget for the traditional elders who would have to elect a new parliament and budget it’d allocate for the plan. The government had earlier announced it’d select 14025 elders for the process.
The parliament will have to elect a new president afterwards to complete the electoral process.
However, political analysts have serious doubts over ‘sluggish’ electoral process, predicting another election postponement.
“Judging from the current developments and the little time remaining, one can hardly believe a timely election will take place in Somalia.” said Abdinur Gelle, a Mogadishu-based political analyst.