Congress appoints electoral commission

The conference of the representatives of the constituent regions of the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia, on Thursday appointed a five-member electoral commission, a local journalist told IRIN. The commission's function would be "to vet presidential candidates, and draw up regulations to govern the conduct of elections", Adan Abdirahman Dolar, editor of he Garowe-based Nugal Times, said on Thursday. On Wednesday the conference unanimously endorsed the Puntland charter (constitution), he said. The Puntland general congress, which opened 26 August in Garowe, the regional capital, has been suspended on several occasions, but resumed its deliberations in earnest on 28 October, after a hiatus of one week. The conference is now waiting for the commission to draw up the rules and procedures to govern the election of the president and vice-president, said Dolar. They are expected to present the election programme, and identify the approved candidates for endorsement by the delegates by Sunday. "Once that happens, the conference will end within a day or two. I believe a president will be in place by Monday or Tuesday next week," Dolar said. There are about 15 presidential candidates, one of them a woman, Batran Yusuf Warabe. "She has stirred up a lot of comment, simply because people in Somalia are not used to women participating in this sort of contest," Dolar noted.