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Somali Presidential Election 2017.

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    Somali Presidential Election 2017.

    Well, it's finally going ahead. 23 candidates including the incumbent, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, all down at the airport in Mogadishu (it's the most secure location) - voting is by 275 MPs and 54 senators in a secret ballot. This is a graphic of how the process works.



    I'm safe and well in Nairobi while this goes on - only essential UN staff are currently in Mogadishu. I'm watching a live feed - link here. That's me sorted for the day.

    #2
    Somali Presidential Election 2017.

    Heard about this on Radio 4 this morning VT and was wondering if you were going to be there. Hope all is good with you.
    Do you think this might be good for Somalia or is it more symbolic?

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      #3
      Somali Presidential Election 2017.

      The NYT is not optimistic.

      Politicians have been peeling off wads of hundred dollar bills to buy votes. Others have shown up for parliamentary races standing next to a political nobody who was bribed or coerced into running against them, to make the race look fair. In one case, the mysterious candidate was the politician’s maid.

      This week, Somalia, which has languished without a functioning central government for more than 25 years and has been propped up by billions of dollars of American aid, is holding an innovative, closely watched presidential election that United Nations officials have billed as a “milestone.”

      But several analysts, investigators and some Western diplomats say the election has turned out to be a milestone of corruption, one of the most fraudulent political events in Somalia’s history — and that’s saying something, given that the country is already ranked by Transparency International, a global anticorruption organization, as the most corrupt on earth.

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        #4
        Somali Presidential Election 2017.

        Well - Somalia was bottom of the 2016 Transparency International corruption table published recently, so things weren't exactly great under HSM. And they've gone and elected a new President - Faarmajo (pronounced Farmer Joe, which always makes me laugh). It can't get any worse, so let's see what happens now. I just hope that there isn't too much change in my main Ministry - Internal Security.

        Guardian piece - here

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