Somalia Prime minister appoints technical committee on electoral issues

The Prime minister of Somalia, Mohamed Hussein Rooble, has appointed a seven member technical committee to support the office of the Prime minister on issues pertaining to the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

The main task of this committee is expected to be managing electoral matters and coordinating between the federal electoral committee and the regional level committee. However this appointment came at a time when opposition candidates raised condemnations and advised the prime minister to be neutral.

Some of the pro Farmajo members have been permanently detached from the poll committee ahead of the elections. Last week there were efforts to clean up all the disputed figures from the federal electoral commission.

The opposition candidates filed a petition against the electoral committee following links with the federal government. The electoral commission was one of the most disputed commissions and the council of the presidential candidates accused president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo of handpicking the committee in an attempt to manipulate the election.