Two Somali presidential candidates Abdirahman Mohamud Farole and Ali Haji Warsame, have protested against the ‘extension’ of the tenure Federal Government under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud.
In a joint statement Farole and Warsame, say a recent communiqué by the National Leaders Forum (NLF) regarding the 2016 Elections is full of ‘discrepancies and inconsistencies’ with regard to the Provisional Federal Constitution (PFC).
‘It contains illegitimate self-extension for the executive power, being a conflict of interest, creating unfair opportunities to the current office holders – the President, Prime Minister and some regional leaders who are either candidates or supporters of FG leaders in the upcoming presidential election,’ the joint statement by the two states in part.
The two argue that according to Article 91 of the Provisional Federal Constitution (PFC) the mandate of the President is 4 years, which ends on 10th September 2016, while Article 95 of the PFC states that the Speaker of the Federal Parliament will take over the office of the President for 30 days.
‘Both election timetables – the one issued by NLF on 25th June 2016, in Baidoa and the one issued on 9th August 2016 in Mogadishu have almost the same time frame to the Presidential election date. Had the NLF acted in line with the previous Election Timetable, we would not have had a problem of constitutional crisis which will come inevitably to the surface on 10th September 2016. This timetable creates inconsistence with the nation’s constitutional provisions,’ the two candidates state.
They add: ‘By not starting the election process in due time with Baidoa’s timetable, we strongly believe that there was a deceitful plan by Federal Government for term extension, which is today’s reality. Likewise, given the hectic time frame, we will not rule out of another intentional illegitimate term extension’.
Both Farole and Warsame also accuse the FG of ‘illegally’ increasing the number of members of the Upper House from 54 to 58, arguing that it is a ‘strong violation of the constitution’.
They also called upon the United Nations Assistance Mission (UNSOM), to intervene and rectify the irregularities.
‘We appeal to the office of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Somalia and the larger international community to act immediately and put the process on the right path in line with the UNSC Resolution 2275/2016, which calls… that there would be no extension of (the) electoral process timelines for either the executive or legislative branches,’ Farole and Warsame assert.
