Somalis were promised that 2016 would see the country’s first democratic poll in nearly 50 years, but the reality is much more complicated.
In the heady days of 2012, when two decades of political transition were finally over, Somalia’s new federal government made a bold announcement.
The conflict-battered country would hold a one-person, one-vote election in 2016.
This would be the first democratic poll in nearly 50 years. The last was in 1969 when 64 parties took part. Then there was a coup, long years of dictatorship, followed by even longer years of civil conflict, the country ripped apart by clan militias, pirate gangs and Islamist extremists.
But 2016 is now upon us, and that election promise has been broken.
Although there have been improvements, a combination of poor security, chaotic politics and a devastated infrastructure means Somalis are going to have to wait even longer to have their say in who their leaders are.
Instead, a bizarre and complex system has been devised to select a new legislature, including an upper house for the first time, a new speaker and a new president.
“This election model, unique in the world, is a stepping stone, a political construct to help us get to the next stage,” says the United Nations special envoy to Somalia, Michael Keating, who is playing a crucial role in the process. “It is the least objectionable compromise.”
As so often happens in Somali politics, the road to reaching consensus has been long, rocky and full of wrong turns.
Nobody can even agree on what to call the new model.
Those involved have given it a variety of names, including “indirect election”, “selection process”, “limited franchise election”, “semi-electoral process” and “a political process with important electoral dimensions”.
The more cynical simply refer to it as an “auction”, where millions of dollars will be spent buying votes.
The process will take more than a month, and involves several complex stages. Understanding it requires a good head for numbers.
Read more: Somalia’s rocky road to democracy
Source: BBC World News
