MOGADISHU (PP News Desk) — The electoral guidelines for the upcoming Somalia elections specifies how Senators and MPs from the ex-British Somaliland will be elected.
The Joint Electoral Committee has submitted guidelines to the Federal Parliament and the Upper House. Mogadishu is the venue where MPs and Senators from Northern regions will be elected due to the political situation in the North. Northern Regions is the name the Federal Government uses in place of Somaliland.
The electoral guidelines will deprive Puntland of federal representation privileges it enjoys under the 2016 agreement signed by the former Puntland State President Dr Abdiweli Mohammed Ali and former Prime Minister of the Federal Government Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke. Before 2016 agreement Puntland State had selected MPs from Sool and Togdheer, with five of the eight MPs going to Khatumo Movement under a 2012 power-sharing agreement.
Puntland State might protest stipulations in the electoral guidelines but as an addendum to the electoral law it is binding on the Federal Government of Somalia and Federal Member States. Half of the MPs and Senators from the ex-British Somaliland represent constituencies currently designated as in Disputed Territories.
© Puntland Post, 2020
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