MOGADISHU —
Somalia’s president battled his predecessor for
the top job Sunday in long-overdue elections in the troubled Horn of Africa
nation, as it confronts an Islamist insurgency and the threat of famine.
اضافة اعلان
As MPs voted in a tent inside Mogadishu’s
heavily-guarded airport complex, explosions were heard nearby, underscoring the
treacherous security situation in the country, which has seen an increase in
attacks by Al-Shabaab Islamist extremists in recent months.
Police said no casualties were reported in the
blasts, with little movement seen in the capital Sunday where police have
imposed a curfew until Monday.
After hours of voting involving 36 candidates, the
complicated election process entered its third and final round, with
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, facing off against his
predecessor Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in a repeat of the pair’s contest in 2017.
The winner will now be decided on the basis of a
simple majority.
The vote, which has been dogged by claims of
irregularities, is expected to draw a line under a political crisis that has
lasted well over a year, after Farmajo’s term ended in February 2021 without an
election.
His attempt to extend his rule by decree triggered
violent street battles in Mogadishu between rival factions before international
pressure prompted him to ask
Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to seek
consensus on a way forward.
Somalia’s international partners have repeatedly
warned that the election delays — caused by political infighting — were a
dangerous distraction from the fight against the
Al-Qaeda-linked insurgents who
have been fighting to overthrow the government for more than a decade.
In addition to a months-long feud between Farmajo
and Roble, the central government has also been embroiled in disputes with
certain states, slowing down the voting process and frustrating citizens.
“We are tired of living with uncertainty... I hope a
president will be elected and today is the end of the nonsense,” Muktar Ali, a
Mogadishu resident, told AFP.
Somalia has not held a one-person, one-vote election
in 50 years. Instead, polls follow a complex indirect model, whereby state
legislatures and clan delegates pick lawmakers for the national parliament, who
in turn choose the president.
“In terms of predicting the outcome, Somalia
politics is notoriously difficult to predict, especially because it is an
indirect, sort of closed system with MPs voting for the president,” said
Omar Mahmood, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think-tank.
Samira Gaid, executive director of the
Mogadishu-based Hiraal Institute think tank, told AFP ahead of the election
that familiar names would enjoy an advantage in the polls.
As the delays have dragged on, the country has also
been in the grip of surging inflation and a devastating drought that threatens
to drive millions into famine.
UN agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe unless
early action is taken, with emergency workers fearing a repeat of the
devastating 2011 famine, which killed 260,000 people — half of them children
under the age of six.
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