A former Deputy Prime Minister was elected as Chairman of the Electoral Reform Commission in Somalia

A former Deputy Prime Minister was elected as Chairman of the Electoral Reform Commission in Somalia

 The 15-member parliamentary committee responsible for drafting and analyzing electoral regulations and guidelines for political associations elected Mahdi Mohamed Guled, former Deputy Prime Minister of Somalia, as its Chairman, and Senator Iftin Hassan Iman (Basto) as his Deputy.

The elections were held during a committee meeting held on Saturday, in the presence of the Second Deputy Speaker of the People's Assembly of the Somali Federal Parliament, Abdullahi Omar Absaro. The committee was formed to supervise the preparation of rules governing elections, political organizations and parties, and the establishment of an electoral commission.

Its formation was subjected to severe criticism from opposition politicians, and the representative in the Somali People’s Assembly, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Shakoor Wasmi, described the formation of the committee as unconstitutional.

Warsame accused the Presidency of the People's Assembly of collusion with the Somali Presidency and tampering with the Constitution and the House's internal regulations. He expressed his regret that the President of the Senate, Senator Abdi Hashi, who they hoped would adhere to the Constitution, had joined the group of violators of it.

This comes amid disagreement in Somalia regarding the upcoming regional and federal elections, as the Somali government insists on holding elections in which the people participate to elect their leaders at the federal and regional levels, while the states of Puntland and Jubbaland and prominent political figures oppose this and consider this impossible.