Somali
politicians and clan elders have reported violence and irregularities in voting
for a new parliament, limited to just 14,000 citizens due to an Islamist
insurgency, and
the president urged all parties to embrace mediation if
disputes arise.
The election
of the 275-seat parliament is due to end this month after voters including
elders and prominent figures spent several weeks electing lawmakers for each
region. The lawmakers will then pick the next president.
Islamist
militant attacks meant authorities could enfranchise only a tiny fraction of
Somalia's 11 million people, who have endured more than two decades of conflict
and chaos.
Diplomats said
the limited franchise is still a step forward from 2012, when just 135 elders
elected parliament's lawmakers.
Several
participants and senior officials in federal regions taking part in the vote
have lodged complaints about the voting process, which began in late October
and is due to end this week. However, experts say it could now last until Nov.
30.
"The list
of legal voters from my clan was rejected and the government brought a fake
list and voters from Mogadishu," Mohamed Mohamud Gure, the public works
minister for the semi-autonomous Galmudug region, told Reuters.
He said he and
another clan elder were fired upon when they went to register a complaint with
the electoral authorities, and they were then detained for several hours by the
authorities.
Hussein Nur, a
clan elder in a different district of Galmudug, said an elder from his clan,
Abdullahi Arale, was shot dead when he accused some voters of being impostors.
"We urge
all electoral institutions to investigate the existing complaints,"
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said in a statement issued at the weekend.
"If disputes cannot be resolved traditionally, it is important they be
transferred to the electoral commissions so that legal solution in accordance
with election processes agreed upon be reached."
Traditional
dispute resolution in the Horn of Africa country usually involves adjudication
by clan elders.
Opponents of
the government say the voting system is open to abuses such as vote buying and
also accuse officials of manipulating voter lists to ensure the president is
re-elected.
The Mogadishu
government denies charges of abuses and says complaints must be assessed by
independent election panels.
Reuters
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