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The statement says the El-Wak MPs are the legitimate representatives of the Gedo region in the 11th Federal Parliament inaugurated on April 14 in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. 

International pressure, including threats by the International Monetary Fund to suspend the debt review programme, has pushed Somali politicians back into the electoral schedule.

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.

Ahmed has on Sunday won a landslide victory over the race for the HOP146 seat vacated by Somali security minister Abdullahi Mohamed Nur, who allowed the former leader to become a federal lawmaker.

Madobe is a long-serving prominent lawmaker who once served as speaker of the transitional parliament between 2007 and 2010 as well as a minister. 

The 54-member Senate and the 275 members of parliament from the Lower House are expected to jointly elect a new president in an indirect vote in Mogadishu but no date has been set so far.

The outgoing president Farmajo has been accused of using security forces as a tool to score his political goal as failing two attempts of a bloodless coup since last year, thanks to the army units averted his plots.

The Lower House is expected to elect a speaker and two deputies on Wednesday, April 27 at the same site. The two houses will jointly choose a president in the coming months, according to the plan.

The election of the speaker of the lower house is closely watched as this House consisting of 275 seats is more powerful than the 54-seat Upper House which was created in 2016, only serving a second term.

The swearing-in of the MPs brings the country a step closer to completing a nearly two-year political standoff over the election process. The new parliament has a lot of work to do in the coming days.

It is not known who fired the mortars and where, but it appears the attack was intended to disrupt the lawmakers' swearing-in ceremony.

FEIT has set April 14 as the date for the inauguration of the 11th Somali parliament in the capital as more than 20 Lower House seats are pending, including 16 in Garbaharey town which is the most disputed.