By Zakaria Hassan - Reporter
MOGADISHU (Dawan Africa) Former Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo on Friday criticized the federal government’s electoral process, accusing President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud of violating constitutional agreements and pursuing electoral processes that lacked consensus.
In a press release issued on the occasion of May 15, commemorating the independence struggle of the Somali Youth League (SYL), Farmaajo said Somali youth should have been able to exercise their constitutional rights to elect their leaders and compete freely and fairly.
However, he said this had been obstructed by “the personal ambitions of a president whose term has ended,” accusing the president of wasting time on “land-grabbing, displacement, and the violation of constitutional agreements and electoral processes that lacked consensus.”
Farmaajo also criticized elections held in the Banadir region and South West State, describing them as “fake elections” that had damaged public confidence.
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He said the process showed that President Hassan Sheikh and his Justice and Solidarity Party (JSP) were incapable of conducting fair internal competition even among their own candidates.
The former president said one-person, one-vote elections remain a national vision, but stressed that the process should be reached through consultation and inclusive agreement.
He added that unilateral political steps had caused political instability, despair among Somali youth, and international disappointment toward the Somali government.