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Somalia’s Transitional National Assembly has elected Abdillahi Deroow Issack as its first official speaker. In the vote on Sunday, he was elected by 156 of the 194 deputies present.
His closest rivals, both members of minority tribes, were Mohamed Rajis Mohamed who received 22 votes, and Abdulaziz Mouktar Maalin who received 14. On Monday, the assembly which has a total of 245 seats, held a new session to election three deputy speakers and other parliamentary officials.
On Thursday, the assembly is scheduled to elect a new president for Somalia and later preside over the formation of a new government in the country which for years has been riven by clan warfare. The country’s faction chiefs, and the leaders of the self-declared regions of Somaliland and Puntland, have expressed strong opposition to the Djibouti-led talks between civilian leaders who established the new transitional assembly.
Issack, a member of the Digil-Mirifleh clan, pledged in a brief statement after Sunday’s vote “to serve the interests of all Somalis”. Under a tacit agreement struck during the Djibouti talks, the posts of president and vice-president are expected to go to members of the country’s two other main clans, the Darods and Hawiyes.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
