Araweelo News Network
Chairman of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, H.E. Amr Abdellatif Aboulatta, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations.
SOMALIA: The U.N. Security Council and Western donors have urged Somalia’s parliament to speed up approval of new election rules to ensure an August vote is held on time, saying delays put recovery from conflict at risk.
Somalia, slowly rebuilding after decades of violence and still battling an Islamist insurgency, is due to elect a new parliament, whose members will in turn pick the president. “The United States is increasingly concerned about delays in the 2016 Somali electoral process,” the U.S. State Department said on Friday, adding the “legitimacy of Somali federal institutions” depended on a transparent and timely transition. It urged parliament “to act swiftly” to enact the new rules. The process to be approved by the outgoing parliament falls short of one-person-one-vote, which diplomats say would be too tough to stage because of the insurgency. But the process will expand the number of people picking the lawmakers. In 2012, just 135 elders selected members of the lower house. Under the new rules, 13,750 people from across federal states will choose 275 members of the lower house. A new 54-seat upper house will also be created to represent the states.
Read more at: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000202607/u-n-western-donors-urge-somalia-to-speed-up-vote-process