UN should conduct Gedo, Hiiraan parliamentary elections-HIPS

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: The UN should conduct parliamentary elections in Hiiraan and Gedo regions, a Mogadishu based think-tank has said, urging the UN body to take an active role in pressing the country’s leaders to break the electoral deadlock.

Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS) said in a new brief the Federal Government and the respective Federal Member States should pull out from the electoral process in the two regions owing to their partisan interests.

“Given the volatility of the situation, we propose that the UN electoral support team is given an exclusive mandate to organize the elections in those provinces with the support of the state electoral management body,” HIPS said.

The brief also proposed the deployment of other AMISOM forces in the two regions and vacated by Ethiopia and Kenya to guard the elections.

HIPS also called on the UN Security Council to pressure Farmaajo and regional government leaders to come to the table and find a solution to the ongoing electoral stalemate.

“Under the leadership of the US, the UK, Turkey and the EU, and within the framework of the UN Security Council, the international community should exert maximum pressure on the FGS and FMS leaders to meet in the coming days and return from the brink.”

The selection of Somaliland elections teams should be done jointly by Senate Speaker Abdi Hashi and Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Guled, the brief read in part.

HIPS also proposes that the Council of Presidential Candidates (CPC) alongside Jubbaland and Puntland submit names they object for the federal elections team (FIET) the UN chief in the country James Swan.

Swan, HIPS said, should work with the FGS to replace the disputed members in compliance with the 17 September agreement and that the replacements should be neutral and credible.