Parliament’s Election Commission Vote Raises Concern

EDITORIAL

Parliament’s vote that excluded the two candidates from Sanag (Mohamud Abdi Hamud) and Awdal (Muse Ahmad Omer) and passed the other five candidates for the election commission has raised a lot of questions about parliament’s judgment, if not its integrity. While we cannot say for sure that the Awdal and Sanag candidates were not confirmed due to clan bias, there is at least one good reason to be concerned, which is that the three candidates that the parliamentary subcommittee was not satisfied with had the same “age” problem, and yet one of them was approved while the other two were rejected. That is what makes the cries of foul play sound credible. It is true that many non-Awdal and non-Sanag parliamentarians voted for the candidates from Sanag and Awdal. It is also true that some parliamentarians from Awdal voted against the candidate from Awdal, and that at least five parliamentarians from Awdal did not show up for the vote. Nevertheless, the central fact is that three candidates had the same problem, and yet one of them was accepted while the other two were not, and that is reason enough to be concerned.

Source: Somaliland Times

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