Mogadishu – International partners* note that more than eighty percent of the House of the People seats were completed as of the deadline of 15 March set by the National Consultative Council.

We strongly urge all Somali stakeholders to resolve any obstacles to completion of the process in the remaining voting sites through dialogue and on a consensus basis, so as to rapidly and credibly conclude the elections. We, therefore, call upon all political leaders to avoid approaches, including a parallel process, that are not based on an agreement among the key actors.

We reiterate that efforts must be redoubled to achieve the 30 per cent quota for women’s representation in parliament.

International partners urge Somali leaders to announce preparations for the Hangar and pledge their commitment to respect Somalia’s constitutional provisions regarding a fair and impartial process to elect the Speakers of the two Houses of parliament and the President of the Federal Republic of Somalia.

*African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Ethiopia, European Union (EU), Finland, Germany, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, League of Arab States (LAS), Netherlands, Norway, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Qatar, Russian Federation, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and United Nations.