Somalia PM says shelved big plan to run for president

The lawmakers of the two houses of the national assembly [Senate [45 seats and Lower House [275 seats], will vote for a new president in a joint session.

News Keydmedia Online
2 May 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia – The prime minister of Somalia Mohamed Hussein Roble has said he shelved a big plan to run for president this year.

Roble who has been in office for nearly two years stated that the tough election implementation task he was entrusted with was more important than his own goals.

Speaking at a press conference in Mogadishu, the embattled PM said he is happy to see the long-delayed parliamentary election is 99% complete.

“If I had announced my candidacy for president, I would only focus on my campaign and there would be no one to hold the election,” said Roble.

After a long-running impasse, the indirect parliamentary election began in July 2021 with a Senate vote, a month after Farmajo discarded his extension.

The PM said that he wanted to save the country from plunging into a constitutional vacuum and a conflict after Farmajo’s term ended with no successor in place.

Roble added the people are celebrating Eid al-Fitr as the country enters a period of political change after a new parliament was sworn in on April 14.

The citizens in and outside Somalia are optimistic and set their eyes on the upcoming presidential election which is likely to take place this month.

Finally, PM Roble asked the new parliament to expedite the process of the presidential election and elect a leader who can take the country out of the security, political and economic crisis.

The lawmakers of the two houses of the national assembly [Senate [45 seats and Lower House [275 seats], will vote for a new president in a joint session.

Somalia has not had a "one-person-one-vote" election since 1969, after the coup that brought dictator Gen Mohamed Siad Barre to power who ruled the country for 21 years with an iron fist.

KEYDMEDIA English