File Photo/Somali Times
Somalia’s presidential candidates final preparations are underway in Mogadishu for the presidential election, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday the 15th of this month.
More than two dozen candidates are vying for the top job in the country, and in the coming days it will be clear who is really running for office and who is just running for office.
According to sources told Somali Times, some candidates are planning to withdraw from the race due to the strict requirements set for those running for the presidency, which they cannot meet, thus ending their candidacy.
The biggest concern for some of the candidates they could not pass was to bring the signatures of 20 members of the Somali parliament.
This article aims to exclude members who are just looking for a name as candidates, and it already appears to exclude many candidates, who are unable to get 20 MPs to sign their support.
Although more than 30 politicians have already said they are candidates, the final list is expected to be no more than 7 according to our sources. Former founder Al-Shabab terror network Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed became the first candidate to register yesterday, receiving a certificate of candidacy for the presidency, followed by nine others, bringing the total to 7 candidates.
Other candidates are also expected to go to the registration center today to receive their certificates and then go to the polls.
Somalia’s presidential election commission on Saturday issued guidelines for candidates seeking to run in the by-elections, which already appear to have no puppet for Somalia’s presidential candidates.