Agenzia Fides

Mogadishu (Agenzia Fides) - There are 25 candidates in the 10 September Somali presidential elections approved by the Electoral Parliamentary Commission. Today, September 7, candidates will present their program to the Somali Parliament. Among them is also the son of former dictator Siad Barre. The President of Somalia will be voted by Parliament which took office in recent weeks (see Fides 09/21/2012). The procedure provides that if no candidate reaches two thirds of the vote, a second vote is held among the four candidates who have obtained the highest number of votes. If in this second ballot no candidate is able to obtain two-thirds of the vote, there will be a final ballot between the two candidates who obtained the highest number of votes.
The election of the Head of State is part of the transition process promoted by the UN to give Somalia credible state institutions after 20 years of absence of a central State. The stabilization process is still far from complete, however, particularly at a military level. In fact air, naval and land bombing continue on Kismayo, the last stronghold of the Shabaab by the Kenyan forces (which have intervened in Somalia for months) in preparation for the offensive to capture the city by Somali forces and those of AMISOM (African Union Mission in Somalia). The Shabaab, however, show that they are still able to carry out attacks in other parts of Somalia, including the capital Mogadishu, where on 6 September a bomb hit an armored vehicle of AMISOM. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 07/09/2012)