FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE March 01, 2022
Somalia: Ongoing Elections / MPs elections for the upcoming parliament
The coalition of Somali human rights defenders CSHRDS www.cshrds.org has been following and monitoring the indirect election process in different regions in Somalia, and as a result of monitoring and observing the ongoing elections; CSHRDs has learnt that there are serious violations of obstructing potential candidates from competition and from reaching their constituency where election is set to take place and replacing them with other candidates selected by the regional federal authorities. CSHRDs has also learnt that a new election style known as ‘’Malxiis election style was adopted’’ where the selected candidate competes with a fake opponent who will quit even before the voting starts and in some cases most votes go to the selected candidate.
There are a number of candidates set to run for elections and who were denied by the regional federal authorities in jubaland, Puntland, hirshabele, and south west sate of Somalia. The regional authorities in those regional states selected their own candidates to be elected as MPs in a rigged election.
In some cases, money has been paid to realize and ensure the election of a certain candidate and the result turned out as it was expected by the single contester. Entire communities were denied to get their wanted candidate to be elected to represent them in the upcoming parliament of Somalia.
There are more than ten communities who are now loudly expressing their complaints and waiting for remedy for their problems. In another serious and blatant violation of the basic political rights of entire communities is unfolding in Gedo region of Somalia where Somalia’s last standing war lord (Sheikh Ahmed Madoobe) is trying to deny Gedo communities right to political inclusion and the right to be elected in a fair and free in direct elections.
Madoobe wants to have a free hand in manipulating candidates who will represent Gedo region violating the 17th September agreement, and communities in Gedo region are not ready to give up their basic rights stated in the universal declaration of human rights in Article 21. And according to Article 29 of the universal declaration, the government should protect the rights and freedoms of communities, so they can elect their representatives. Both Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT) and Election Dispute Resolution Committee failed to meet the expectations of the people of Somalia. This election demonstrates the dire need for the establishment of constitutional court in Somalia, and independent national human rights commission.
Therefore; the CSHRDs alarms the international rights groups, Somalia’s international partners, the regional states and the federal government of Somalia and recommends them to consider reversing the whole election process or reversing partially to form an inclusive parliament that represents all communities in Somalia.
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