Somalia’s new parliament pick its speaker Saturday

ESAT News (December 30, 2016)

The new lawmakers of the Somalia’s parliament are expected to elect their speaker on Saturday in Mogadishu, after they had been inaugurated in the capital last Tuesday.

According to a report by Shabelle News, several MPs, including former speaker Mohamed Sheikh Osman Jawari, have announced their candidacy for the leadership of the parliament’s both lower and upper houses.

Saballe news quoted its sources as saying Abdirashid Mohamud Hidig, a legislator and a close ally to the outgoing president, is among the candidates competing for the seat of the speaker for the parliament.  

Somali parliament will elect a president next month, after vote has been delayed for four months due to disputes in the process of the lower house parliamentary elections.