MOGADISHU, April 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 300 new Members of Parliament and Senate of Somalia were finally sworn in on Thursday after more than a year's delay.
The 304 new members of the 275-member House of the People (Lower House of Parliament) and the 54-member Upper House, or the Senate, took the oath of office in a ceremony in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.
Chairperson of the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT), Muse Gelle Yusuf said elections of another 25 members are yet to be held in two Federal member states.
"We have been in the long electoral process that lasted for about 20 months, it is historic and great that it came to an end today, 304 members attended the swearing-in ceremony but there are only 25 members from Jubaland and Hirshabelle states that remain unelected so far, and we wish to complete soon," Yusuf told Parliament.
He said elections were concluded peacefully despite increased terror attacks by al-Shabab that targeted electoral delegates, insufficient funds and severe drought.
The new parliament elected the two elderly lawmakers, Ali Mohamed Yusuf as temporary speaker for the Upper House and Abdisalan Haji Ahmed for the House of the People.
Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Roble who attended the event, congratulated the new lawmakers on taking the oath and hailed the electoral stakeholders who ensured the completion of the process.
Roble reiterated the challenges that beset the elections, saying security, domestic and foreign interventions including the current drought were among the difficulties that his government faced.
Somalia's international partners also welcomed the swearing-in of newly-elected members of Somalia's House of the People and Upper House.
"After a period of more than one year in which all Somali elected institutions exceeded their constitutional timelines, we are pleased that the new parliament is now in place," the partners including the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations among others, said in a joint statement.
The partners said they look forward to the rapid completion of the remaining stages of the electoral process, notably the election of the parliamentary leadership and then the President.
They called on Somali leaders to reduce political tensions, respect the human rights and freedom of Somali citizens, and conclude the electoral process quickly, peacefully, and credibly.
The Senate and the 275 members of parliament from the Lower House are expected to jointly elect a new president later either this month or early May.
Analysts say holding the 2022 vote is considered critical for the sake of entrenching the federal system of governance, which is required to appease communities and regions claiming systematic exclusion and marginalization for decades. ■