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New Somali Parliament to elect speaker

22 August 2012 18:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Somalia’s newly-inaugurated legislature will elect its speaker and deputy speakers at the weekend while the presidential vote has been postponed, government officials said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Somalia on Monday inaugurated a new parliament formed inside the horn of Africa nation for the first time in more than two decades.

Musa Hassan Abdulle, the interim speaker of the new 275-member legislature, who as the eldest member, was chosen to lead the house and oversee the election of the speaker and deputy speakers at the weekend.

"Elections will begin once we have all the applications from the candidates for the speaker and the main conditions for the post are that a candidate should be a person with experience, knowledge and with integrity," interim Speaker Abdulle told reporters in Mogadishu.

The new parliament formed a 15-member Election Commission led by the interim speaker that will organize the legislature’s vote to choose a speaker and deputy speakers.

A number of MPs have so far been tipped for the post of the speaker of parliament which in Somalia’s politics wields enormous political clout and influence and has almost always went to one of the key clans in Somalia.

Somali government officials said that the presidential election has been postponed to the end of the month or early next month because of so called "technical glitches". The presidential vote was scheduled to be held on Aug. 20 when the term of the current government expired.

Three senior Somali government leaders, incumbent president, the prime minister and the former speaker of the parliament announced their candidature for the top job.

At least a dozen other candidates are vying for the country’s leadership for the next four years.