File Photo/Somali Times
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was allied with the presidents of HirShabelle, Galmudug and Southwest, but his ambition to run in Somalia’s elections was opposed by strong opposition.
The opposition was a coalition of candidates, the presidents of Jubaland and Puntland, the speaker of the upper house, and later Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble.
The coalition has now collapsed after the Union of Opposition Candidates rejected the way regional leaders and Roble were running the election process and compared it to President Mohamed Farmajo.
”The council has for some time opposed the attempt by the outgoing president, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, to loot the country’s elections. It is not possible for the National Consultative Assembly to ignore Farmajo’s rejection of the tradition,” said a statement from the Union of Candidates.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo is taking advantage of this new crisis in two ways.
1. The collapse of the Coalition: The collapse of the National Salvation Coalition began when its members neglected its chairman Abdi Hashi, who took over the leadership of the Northern Regional Electoral Commission from Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled, who is affiliated with Farmajo.
Abdi Hashi’s treatment of the coalition was unexpected, but Farmajo showed that the coalition was more lenient than expected, and that what was at stake was not principles but political interests.
The remaining rivals in the coalition opened up after the Upper House election, when Ahmed Madobe, Said Deni, Qoor Qoor and Lafta-Gareen changed the nomination, which angered the candidates, although they were officially welcomed.
Candidates acknowledged that Ahmed Madobe and Said Deni’s fight against Farmajo was not in their interest but in their own interests.
The coalition finally collapsed after the National Consultative Assembly on Sunday issued an election manifesto that the opposition described as “nominal” on the surface, but internally nominated.
The collapse of the Coalition means that President Farmajo will no longer have to face stiff competition during the parliamentary elections, a process that is also in Mohamed Farmajo’s interest, which brings us to the second point.
2. The electoral process: The electoral process has given the regional administration leaders more power to select delegates to elect the members of parliament, which is the main point of contention that the opposition opposes. But in other words, President Farmajo has no problem with this process, and he is likely to benefit from it in several respects.
President Farmajo initially relied on pro-state presidents to produce lawmakers who would vote, with the help of elders, and the presidency would contribute influence and money to sort things out.
The procedure adopted by the National Consultative Assembly has empowered regional presidents, and this will make it easier for Gudlawe, Qoor Qoor and Lafta-Gareen to manipulate the election and remove lawmakers loyal to Farmajo, if they so desire.
Also, Ahmed Madobe and Said Deni could use this tactic to manipulate the parliamentary elections, but Farmajo did not rely on the two administrations’ election strategy in the first place, so he does not like whoever comes out there.
The biggest defeat came to the Union of Candidates, with Ahmed Madobe and Said Deni not running for parliament, while the electoral process opened many doors for President Mohamed Farmajo.