Somalia’s Election Commission chairman Omar Mohamed Abdulle, has announced that the country’s 2016 presidential election will take place on October 30.
The commission said the election of 275-member Lower House will be held from September 24 to October 10 while the election of Upper House should be completed by September 25.
More than 14,000 delegates representing Somalia clans will cast their votes for members of the Lower House, while the regional states will select the members of the Upper House.
The incumbent president Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud is among dozens of candidates vying for the presidency, who will be elected by new lawmakers.
The term of the president expires on September 10, but according to a source, the speaker of parliament has approved a new resolution agreed by the national leaders forum to extend the term for the president until election day in October.
Somalia descended into chaos following the ouster of President Siad Barre in 1991. Since then Islamic radicals called Al Shabaab also added to the confusion, making the Horn of Africa country ungovernable, prompting the intervention of foreign troops including those from Uganda, to restore sanity.
