Somali lawmakers start voting to elect next president

By Mohammed Dhaysane

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AA) - Somali lawmakers from both houses of the parliament have started casting their vote 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 second and third rounds of balloting are 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.

To win in the first round, a candidate must secure two-thirds of the vote.

A total of 329 lawmakers will choose the next leader from among 36 candidates, including the incumbent president and other frontrunners Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

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.