CONSENSUS ON THE SOMALI ELECTORAL MODEL IS HARD TO COME BY

[Deeq A.]

Mogadishu (PPM) — In 2016  the previous Federal Government of Somalia under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had only one obstacle: to persuade Puntland State to agree the 4.5 powersharing mechanism as basis for 2017 elections. Puntland embraced Vision 2016 on the condition the 4.5 system will not be used for 2021 elections.

Last year the incumbent Federal Parliament passed the electoral law aimed to facilitate one person, one vote elections in Somalia. Without the collaboration of Federal Member States elections cannot take place. The demand from some politicians to put the electoral law aside and conduct indirect elections similar to the 2017 elections further drives a wedge between the Federal Parliament and some Federal Member States with which a repeat of indirect elections resonates.

Conflicting interests of foreign stakeholders in Somalia make efforts to form  consensus on electoral models a Sisyphean task.

The International Community plays a confusing role. Its securitisation agenda attaches importance to containment of terrorist and piracy threats to “the world”. A new dispensation that maintains the political status quo in which the Somali political class plays the role of fundraisers for Amisom is what some European countries and USA are aiming for. The risk that abrogation of the electoral law can weaken the bicameral legislature weighs heavily on the minds legislators. The National Independent Electoral Commission will cease to exist if the electoral law ends up in the dustbin. NIEC does not have a mandate to oversee indirect elections.

The Federal Government signed agreements with foreign companies whose interests are factored into how lead countries respond periodic, political deadlocks in Somalia. While it is reasonable to raise questions about the legislative clout of the federal legislatures in country riven by political turmoil and excessive vulnerability to transnational terrorism, it absurd to polically empower Federal Member States (FMS) notorious for centralised authorities hardly accountable to locals.

If Somalia had transitional federal authorities Federal Member States would have gradually created decentralised and more inclusive institutions. The bottom-up approach to state-building was discarded too early in favour of a permanent government serving economic interests of foreign countries. Conflicting interests of foreign stakeholders (“Somalia’s International Partners”) make efforts to form consensus on electoral models a Sisyphean task.

© Puntland Post Monthly, 2020

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