Somalia’s delayed elections will be held within 60 days after months of stalemate over the outbreak of violence in the troubled country, the government announced on Thursday.
“If the election schedule is agreed by the National Consultative Forum that elections will be held within 60 days”, with the exact dates determined by the Election Board, Deputy Minister of Information Abdirahman Yusuf announced at the end of the talks.
The central government and the leaders of Somalia’s five states had not been able to agree on the terms of the vote before the end of the presidential term in February.
When the last round of UN-backed talks collapsed in April, Parliament’s lower house passed a special bill extending the term of President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, by two years.
The upper house rejected the move and anger against Farmajo spilled out into the streets of Mogadishu.
Rival militias traded in shots and civilians fled in the country’s worst political violence in years.
The crisis blew up Somalia’s fragile security forces and raised fears of direct civil war, with soldiers leaving their posts in rural areas to fight for their political allegiance to the capital.
Under domestic and international pressure, Farmajo reversed the mandate extension and ordered his prime minister to convene a new round of talks, easing tensions as soldiers left the capital.
“It is a historic day today,” said Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble after five days of talks with leaders.
“After days of discussions with respect, patience and compromise, we have managed to reach agreement on the issues at stake in the election.”
The election will follow a complex indirect model used in the past, where special delegates elected by Somalia’s countless clan elders elect legislators, who in turn elect the president.
