The 16 lawmakers elected in the Elwak district were sworn in Mogadishu on Monday.
According to Somalia’s interim parliamentary speaker Abdisalam Dhabanad, the lawmakers were supposed to be sworn in at the Afasiyoni tent. Still, the event was moved to a hotel inside the airport after interference from federal government forces.
Dhabanad accused Somalia’s Police Commissioner. General Abdi Hassan Mohamed Hijaar and senior agents from the National Intelligence & Security Agency (NISA) of “attacking” the venue with live ammunition.
The swearing-in event was attended by the intern Speaker of the House of the People Amb. Abdisalan Ahmed Dhabanad, the Lower House General-Secretary Abdikarim Abdi Buux, and the Federal Electoral Implementation Team members.
A separate parliamentary election for the Gedo constituency began on Saturday in the regional capital Garbaharey. Members of the FIET who run that election is expected to conclude before the election for the Lower House Speaker.
Dhabanad told the media that the Elwak election was the only legal poll in the Gedo region and that only those winners would be certified by the federal election commission.
“The lawmakers sworn in today have the same FEIT certification that I received when I was sworn in. The certificates must have the signature of the FIET Chairman, Muse Guelleh Yusuf, to be valid.”
However, the Dispute Resolution Committee chairman, Mohamed Awil Warsame, has dismissed the parallel elections in Elwak and Garbaharey in the Gedo region as illegal. Speaking to the local media, the chairman said that the separate elections in Elwak and Garbaharey violated the September 17th agreement reached by the leaders of the National Consultative Forum.
Somalia’s President also called the two elections illegal and called for a national leadership conference to discuss the disputed seats.
The 16 seats from the Gedo constituency were the final seats left to complete the 11th Parliament.
With the Lower House complete, lawmakers in Mogadishu are preparing to elect the house speakers and then the president.
