Saturday, December 24, 2016
Four more candidates elected to the House of the People as Somaliland and northern regions seek to complete the electoral proces from UNSOM on Vimeo.
Mogadishu, 22 December 2016 – Four more candidates from Somaliland and northern regions were voted into the House of the People today, raising the number of members of parliament (MPs) elected from that part of the country to 30.
Somaliland and the northern regions now have to fill 16 more seats in the House of the People in order to complete the voting exercise.
Those elected in the latest round of voting are Hussein Isse Arab, a former Defense Minister who retained his parliamentary seat, fellow incumbent MP Sa’eed Mohamed Mohamud, Abdirisak Dahir Mohamud and Biihi Iman Ege.
Mr. Arab garnered 47 of the 51 votes cast and praised the work of the Somali Police Force and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) for providing security.
“They have succeeded in securing the process right from the start and I thank them because without them, this would not have been possible. I also thank the delegates and clan chiefs who defied all odds and took part in this exercise,” the MP-elect stated.
Mr. Mohamud, another incumbent who was re-elected with 43 votes, said the country had refuted pessimists who had doubted Somalia’s ability to conduct an electoral process.