Garowe (AX) — Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni on Sunday strongly accused Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of abandoning the consensus-based electoral process, warning that the federal government’s announced election timetable poses a serious threat to Somalia’s unity and the foundations of the federal system.
Speaking at the opening of the 59th session of the Puntland Parliament in Garowe, Deni said that the political agreements underpinning the country’s current state-building process had been completely disregarded, particularly the 2012 Provisional Constitution.
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He criticized the election timetable announced on October 15, accusing Hassan Sheikh of pushing through an electoral process that had not been agreed upon with the country’s political stakeholders.
The Puntland president stressed that the move could seriously undermine Somalia’s state-building efforts and called for urgent consultations to resolve the deepening political dispute.
He urged Somalia’s political leaders, traditional elders and all sections of society to unite in reaching a consensus-based agreement to safeguard national unity and the federal system.
Deni also called on international partners to support an inclusive political dialogue, insisting that the direction of Somalia’s future governance requires broad consensus rather than being shaped by unilateral decisions.
The Puntland president acknowledged the frustration felt by residents of his administration over the country’s political process, noting that the public had long awaited the establishment of a stable and efficiently functioning Somali government.
He pledged that his administration would never take decisions that undermined the interests and aspirations of the people of Puntland.
“My administration will consult the public and political stakeholders before deciding on the next steps to respond to the national-level political dispute,” he added.
Deni’s remarks came after Somalia’s Independent National Electoral and Boundaries Commission announced that elections for the two chambers of the Federal Parliament would be held on April 15, 2027, while the presidential election was scheduled for May 15.
The administrations of Puntland and Jubaland, backed by influential opposition figures, have categorically rejected the electoral process emerging from Mogadishu, arguing that constitutional amendments and election decisions made without consensus have no legitimacy.
Meanwhile, the federal government maintains that the new election timetable is fully consistent with the amended constitution and the country’s electoral laws.
The political confrontation has further widened the divide between Mogadishu and some federal member states, with the dispute centered on constitutional powers, political representation and the process for selecting Somalia’s future federal leadership.
