FIEIT: Somalia’s South West and Jubbaland States ready for upcoming Lower House elections

30 Oct 2016

FIEIT: Somalia’s South West and Jubbaland States ready for upcoming Lower House elections

The Chairman of the Federal Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) Omar Mohamed Abdulle has expressed confidence in the electoral process preparations of Somalia’s South West and Jubbaland states.

Accompanied by other FIEIT members, Mr. Abdulle visited the cities of Kismaayo and Baidoa on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to meet with state-level electoral officials ahead of voting for seats in the Lower House, which is expected to begin in early November.

“All is set for voting in South West State,” said the FIEIT chairman during a tour of eight polling centers in Baidoa with officials of the South West State-Level Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (SIEIT).  “We discussed the preparation of (electoral college) delegations and the registration of candidates, both male and female.”

The FIEIT delegation inspected the logistical materials that will be used in the electoral process such as ballot boxes and voting papers. They also met with an electoral security task force who presented what Mr. Abdulle called “a well-crafted plan” to ensure the safety of candidates and electoral college delegates during the actual voting and ballot tabulation.

The South West SIEIT chair Mohamed Abdullahi Mursal thanked members of the FIEIT for their visit to Baidoa, which he said would help to expedite the preparations for voting on the state’s 69 seats in the Lower House of the country’s next Federal Parliament.

On Saturday 29 October Mr. Abdulle and other FIEIT members undertook a similar assessment mission in the Jubbaland state capital of Kismaayo.  

The FIEIT also expressed satisfaction with the progress achieved by the Jubbaland SIEIT for the beginning of voting in that part of the country.

“We have witnessed that they are ready and the delegates who will vote for the 43 seats (from Jubbaland) are all ready,” the FIEIT chairperson Mr. Abdulle noted.

The deputy chairman of the Jubbaland SIEIT echoed that assessment, stating that voting in the state’s electoral colleges can start “with immediate effect.”

FIEIT members are planning similar trips later in the week to the Puntland state capital of Garowe, the Galmudug state capital of Cadaado and the HirShabelle interim capital of Jowhar to inspect polling sites and confer with SIEIT officials in those locations.