Another missed timeline as Senate election process yet to start

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU:  The newly released elections timetable by the Federal Indirect Elections Team (FIET) has missed another milestone after it emerged no work has commenced on the registration and submission of the list of candidates for Senate seats.

According to the timetable released on December 23, the FIET and its state-level counterparts were to have received the list of candidates contesting for Senate seats from the Federal Member State and the Federal Government latest today.

This exercise was to commence from December 26 to 29 to pave way for elections tomorrow. FMS parliaments were to start electing Senators from December 30 to January 6. However, Goobjoog News has established the exercise has not yet begun.

It’s noteworthy that Puntland and Jubbaland have not even formed their state-level elections teams following disputes with the Federal Government.

According to the 2016 agreement on seat allocations which still stands, Somaliland and Puntland were allocated 11 seats while Jubbaland, Galmudug, HirShabelle, and South West were each given 8 seats at the Senate.

An earlier timetable released by the Federal Government and FMS in September failed to materialize.

The new timetable also envisages the election of MPs between February 9 and 21 which will subsequently be followed the election of a new president in March.

The term of parliament lapsed on December 27 in accordance with the Provisional Constitution.