Somalia: Prime Minister sacks seven members of Electoral Disputes Committee
Mohamed Hussein Roble, Prime Minister of Somalia.
Abdirahman Yusuf AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
A new twist in the current electoral process leading to a Somali presidential election.
This Saturday, December 18, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble sacked seven members of the committee in charge of electoral disputes.
The abrupt decision came after a meeting with the alliance of opposition candidates, the first since their announcement of a boycott of the electoral process, highlighting accusations of fraud.
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It has been weeks since the prime minister met opposition candidates to discuss.
Saturday, it was done, on the occasion of the virtual meeting of a consultative body including ministers and governors of the federated states, major political actors, as well as the president of the Electoral Commission who made a point of 'stage on the elections.
Two hours later, Mohamed Hussein Roble went further: he sacked seven members of the Electoral Dispute Resolution Committee whose nomination he controls and immediately replaced them with faithful.
"
Not in the right direction ”
The official motive, according to a statement from his office: to have "
violated the independence
" of the committee and to have "
interfered
" in political life.
According to the Somali media, it would be above all the confirmation in his post of deputy of the very controversial former intelligence chief, Yassin Farey, a close friend of President Farmajo, which would have motivated these dismissals.
A maintenance that dissatisfied even within the clan to which he belongs and which, according to the opposition, is indicative of the "
frauds
" organized to promote the retention of power by the outgoing Head of State.
In the process, the council of opposition candidates also welcomed a "
step in the right direction
".
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