Somali poll bodies vow to fix electoral malpractices

Somalia's two bodies tasked with managing the electoral process vowed Thursday to step up efforts to address serious electoral malpractices in the ongoing elections.

The Federal-level Indirect Electoral Implementation Team (FIEIT) and Indirect Electoral Dispute Resolution Mechanism (IEDRM) expressed concerns about harassment of members of the electoral management bodies and candidates and the manipulation of delegate and candidate lists.

The two electoral bodies also decried misuse of government resources to favor certain parliamentary candidates and use of private security and financial resources to intimidate and compromise some candidates and delegates.

"To safeguard the overall credibility of the process, the FIEIT and the IEDRM will cooperate closely in accordance with their respective mandates to thoroughly investigate these allegations," the two bodies said in a joint statement.

"When investigations confirm that serious malpractices have occurred, the FIEIT and the IEDRM will take appropriate and decisive actions," the statement said.

Such actions, the statement said, can include nullification of the election results and disqualification of candidates who have committed the malpractices.

The two bodies also said a particular concern remained that some clans are not adhering to the National Leadership Forum (NLF) requirements to reserve a seat for a woman in every three seats or combined seats of clans.

The two electoral bodies however said the overall electoral process so far has been peaceful and orderly except for a few isolated incidents in Jowhar, Baidoa, Cadaado and Kismayo. Endit