Elections in Somalia “delayed”, said a spokesman for the federal government, Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu without leaving any details.
The election would begin on Sunday after months of political crisis in the deeply unstable Horn of Africa country, officials told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Indirect parliamentary and presidential polls were to open on July 25 with a four-day vote for the upper house by state delegates. The election cycle was to end with a presidential poll on 10 October.
“Even if the plan was for the House to start in the various states today, it is a delay, the election may not take place as planned,” a member of the election commission told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The delay was due to the fact that federal regions could not submit candidate lists in time or to form local committees to vote, the source added.
Last week, the country’s al-Shabab terrorist group warned politicians against running in the election, which would begin after months of stalemate and delays.
The threat, in an audio message allegedly recorded by al-Shabab leader Ahmed Umar Abu Ubaidah, underscores the security challenges facing the electoral process in the country.
The al-Qaeda-linked group has been fighting to overthrow the federal government since 2007 and often attacks government, security and civilian targets.
Somalia was plunged into an unprecedented constitutional crisis earlier this year when President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and the leaders of Somalia’s five states could not agree on the terms of the vote before his term expired in February.
After months of stalemate that sometimes turned violent, political leaders finally agreed last month on a timetable for the vote.
According to the agreed plan, delegates from the five federal states, elected by different clans in that state, elect parliamentarians who then elect a president. The process would start on Sunday.
But according to several sources who spoke to AFP, the only state that could conduct a “during the week” vote was Jubaland. According to a source, the state has already elected its delegate committee and could publish a list of candidates “during the week.”
“We expect the election to take place soon,” said Mohamed Adan, a senior government official in Jubaland. Another source said the election process could start in the state later on Sunday.
In the state of Puntland, sources told AFP that the election was delayed due to “technical reasons.” In the state of Galmudug, the local parliament is on hiatus and will return in early August.
In the state of Southwest, the process is blocked because the regional president is outside the country.
The stalemate explodes in violence
Somalia’s political dead end exploded in violence in April when negotiations collapsed and the lower house extended the president’s term by two years, triggering gun battles on the streets of Mogadishu.
Under pressure, the president, commonly known as Farmajo, reversed the extension and ordered his prime minister to reconvene with leaders to map out a new roadmap for the election.
The votes follow a complex indirect model in which special delegates elected by the country’s countless clan elders elect legislators, who in turn elect the president.
Subsequent leaders have promised a direct vote, but political strife, logistical problems and al-Shabaab’s uprising have prevented such an exercise.
The vote in the House will be followed by the election to the Lower House from 12 September to October. 2, according to an updated timetable issued last week.
According to a June statement, both assemblies would meet to vote for the president on October 10, but no date for this election was given in the updated timeline.
Somalia has not held a direct election with one person, one vote since 1969, the year dictator Siad Barre led a coup and continued to rule for two decades.
Barre’s military regime collapsed in 1991 and Somalia sank into anarchy.
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