UPDATE - Somali presidential election goes to 2nd round

UPDATES WITH SECOND ELECTION ROUND, FIRST ROUND RESULTS

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - The presidential election in Somalia proceeded to its second round on Sunday.

None of the 36 candidates were able to get the minimum two-thirds of the vote to win the first round. Of them, only four remain to be chosen by the country's lawmakers.

Speaker of parliament Sheikh Adan Madobe announced that all 328 votes had been counted after the first round, with Said Abdullahi Deni, the president of Somalia's Puntland state, leading with 64 votes and sitting President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo getting 59, while his predecessor Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won 53 votes and former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire got 46.

Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, a former president who was also seen as frontrunner, only attracted 37 votes and was eliminated.

Somali lawmakers from both houses of the parliament started casting their votes earlier on Sunday to elect the country's next president.

The members of parliament have gathered at a tent hall located inside the heavily guarded Mogadishu international airport.

All presidential candidates, including President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, arrived at the venue of the election, which has been delayed for almost two years.

The parliament session, chaired by Speaker Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nuur Madobe, officially started the process to elect the Horn of Africa country's new president.

"Today is a historic day for Somalia as we are sitting here to elect the president of the Federal Republic of Somalia," Madobe said.

The voting process is expected to continue until late Sunday, if a third round of balloting is needed.

Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimuu, the spokesman for the Presidential Election Commission, told the lawmakers that they will cast the vote secretly in line with the country's constitution.

According to the commission, at least three candidates have so far quit the race for the presidency.

A nation of 16 million people, Somalia has suffered for decades from civil war, weak governance, and terrorism.