Mogadishu, 25 December 2016 – Delegates from Somaliland and the northern regions today elected four more candidates to the House of the People including two women, bringing the number of members of parliament (MPs) elected from these respective areas to 34.
The latest round of voting means the regions have 12 more seats to fill in order to conclude elections for the House of the People and embark on voting for the Upper House.
The victorious candidates include Abdalle Haji Ali Ahmed, Abdirahman Idan Yonis, Fadumo Odawa Rage and Sahra Yusuf Ege. Ms. Rage and Ms. Ege won seats reserved for women by comfortable margins.
Fardowsa Mohamed Du’ale, a member of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT), noted that the electoral process has been peaceful and expressed her satisfaction with the number of women elected to the House of the People.
“We expect that at the end of the process, we should be having between 25 and 26 percent women’s representation. We will soon release statistics on the performance of the regions with regard to women election, but preliminary statistics indicate that Somaliland is leading, with HirShabelle coming second,” Ms. Du’ale observed.
Ms. Rage thanked traditional elders for their role in facilitating the election of more women representatives to the House of the People.
“The representation of women has increased sharply this time. It is higher than it was in the previous election of 2012. I thank the clan chiefs for their resolve to ensure that women are elected and for supporting us,” she observed.
Mr. Ahmed called for unity and emphasized the need for Somalia and Somaliland to achieve reconciliation among their inhabitants. “Any person who will be elected president will have my support on the issue of reconciliation of Somaliland and Somalia. I will help the president if he is honest and serious about the negotiations with Somaliland,” he noted.
Ms. Ege thanked the delegates for surpassing in Somaliland the 30 per cent quota for women’s representation in the next federal parliament, adding that she was ready to work for the betterment of Somalia.
“I thank all the people who worked with me and I am particularly pleased with the decision to uphold the 30 percent quota for women representation in parliament,” she added.