Elections in Somalia

Somalia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Somalia

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The Somalian state only has loose governmental structures with "no effective central government" since 1991. Political parties organized based strictly or primarily on political beliefs don't play much of a role; instead, there is a strong sense of ethnic identity and clan-based organization. The Transitional Federal Government is the internationally recongnized government, but only governs a small part of the country. Heads of state are elected by the Transitional Federal Parliament (TFP).

Transitional Federal Government and indirect presidential elections

There have been no direct elections in Somalia. The interim TFP of 275 members was selected in 2004, with each of Somalia's four major clans getting 61 seats in the parliament, and an alliance of minority clans given 31 seats. These seats were selected by traditional clan leaders, such as in shura councils, or were chosen for their office because they were powerful de facto leaders such as warlords or businessmen. Once appointed, the Parliament then voted, as a representative body for Somalia, to elect President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed. Somalia therefore is a representative democracy and technically a republic, but has not yet held any general elections.

Many of the present political parties are, or until recently also were militia groups often aligned with clan structures or were supporters of warlords, and often violently active in the Somali Civil War, such as two factions of the United Somali Congress (USC), the Somali National Movement (SNM), the Somali Democratic Movement (SDM) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM). Women were represented by the "Sixth Clan" movement of Asha Haji Elmi. Some agenda-based (rather than clan-based) political movements also exist, such as Green Leaf for Democracy (GLED).

Direct elections

In 2009, the TFG was tasked with passing a constitution and organizing presidential and parliamentary general elections in August 2011. However, as of April 2011 a constitution had yet to be passed and the date and scope of potential presidential elections was not clear. The TFP voted to extend its term by three years beyond the original August 2011 expiration of their mandate, and the TFG followed suit with a one year extension to its own term. Both groups condemned the actions of the other. The speaker of parliament continued with preparations for the presidential election in spite of the uncertainty. The delay has received criticism from the United Nations, United Kingdom and the United States, with the situation being called a "constitutional crisis" by the U.N.'s Somalia representative, Augustine P. Mahiga. As of April 2011, the government of Somalia has rejected all efforts by the international community aimed at ensuring the elections go forward.

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Somali presidential election, 2009

External links

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• African Elections Database