The United Nations, the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union (EU), the United States, the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Italy and Sweden commend the country’s federal and regional leaders for agreeing today the detailed modalities of the 2016 electoral process at this week’s National Leadership Forum held in Mogadishu.

“This is a breakthrough. The international community welcomes the consensus reached by the National Leadership Forum,” said the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Somalia, Michael Keating. “The  process will involve one hundred times more electors than in 2012, and it will be implemented in a much more structured and transparent manner. Key elements in the way forward have now been agreed. This is a stepping stone to one-person, one-vote elections by 2020.”

The international community applauded the National Leadership Forum for its renewed pledge to commit to the constitutionally mandated term limits of the legislative and executive branches of the Federal Government of Somalia. International partners called on Parliament to endorse the agreed electoral process without delay.

“In particular, I welcome the continued commitment to reserving 30 per cent of the seats in both houses of parliament for women and look forward to seeing it realized in practice,” said SRSG Keating.  The empowerment of women will consolidate peace and political stability in Somalia. The international community will strongly support efforts to bring this commitment to full fruition in the coming months.  

International partners also welcomed the agreement to hold the next meeting of the National Leadership Forum, followed by a Constitutional Conference, in Garowe in May.  They look forward to the outcome of discussion of the draft National Security Policy by the Federal Government with the leaders of the existing and emerging federal member states.