MOGADISHU (Somaliguardian) – Somali Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT) has split over attempts by the Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to postpone the election of Fahad Yasin, the country’s former spy chief, who is a staunch ally of the President.
On Friday night, the electoral body issued a letter saying that an election for HOP086 parliament seat had been delayed in a Facebook post. But other members of the board later denied the statement, claiming that the FEIT’s Facebook page had “had fallen into other hands”.
Roble held talks with FEIT officials on Tuesday in which he expressed his plans to postpone Yasin’s election, whose attempts to occupy the seat by force has triggered concerns. The PM said he would not accept the former ex-spy joining parliament, months after he had been accused of plotting the murder of a female intelligence agent.
Days earlier, Yasin and Southwest President excluded former deputy speaker of parliament Abdiweli Mudey from the race for a parliament seat which has been later occupied by a Farmajo loyalist. He was denied to board a flight at Mogadishu airport en-route to the town of Barawe where he would seek re-election. Many other former MPs have been blocked from running for parliament in similar schemes.
In another meeting held this week, the majority of election officials said they could not abide by his order to postpone the election for HOP086, citing results of disputed seats whose suspension had earlier been refused by the Premier. They insisted that Roble’s efforts are politically motivated and asked him to make public comments about the matter before giving them instructions aimed at barring Mr Yasin from participating in the upcoming polls.
FEIT chairman, its spokesman and two other officials have sided with the Prime Minister, who have issued the letter announcing the postponement of the election for which Fahad Yasin is planning to take part. Each of the election board’s Facebook and Twitter accounts is controlled by one of the rival groups, who are seperately aligned with Farmajo and Roble.
Hirshabelle electoral committee rejected the announcement of the Federal Electoral Implementation Team and said the vote would be held on its due date on Sunday. Fahad Yasin is expected to arrive in Baladwayne within 48 hours. Delegates he had allegedly handpicked arrived in the town amid reports suggesting that he is due to be elected inside the city’s airport, unlike other parliamentary votes which are set to be held inside the restive town.
The renewed dispute comes with only seven days remaining from the February 25 deadline before which parliamentary elections were agreed to be concluded during meeting last month between the leaders of regional states and the Prime Minister.
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