Farmaajo running major risks by extending presidential term

Ahmed Adel

Outgoing Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has put himself in an awkward position by extending his presidential term by two years.

The president’s move could open the door for civil war in Somalia.

Farmaajo signed the extension into law on April 14, taking ongoing disputes over the presidential elections in his country as an excuse.

However, the extension pits Somalia against donor states which vehemently oppose this move.

The Somali government and the heads of the different Somali states are locked in a conflict over the presidential elections mechanism. The same conflict caused the postponement of the elections more than one time in the past two months. No date has been set for the elections until now, even as an agreement was reached on the elections in September last year.

Somali legislators voted for the extension on April 12, in their bid to put an end to the ongoing crisis in their country.

Nevertheless, the Somali Senate described the extension and the law regulating it as “unconstitutional”.

Farmaajo welcomed the lawmakers’ approval of the law. He said his government would enforce it.

The law, Farmaajo said, would give Somalis their right to directly elect the president back.

He called on Somalis to grab this opportunity by participating in the political process in their country.

Farmaajo thanked what he described as “Somalia’s friends” for their support to the democratic process in the African state.

Fears

There are fears across Mogadishu from a backlash from Farmaajo’s decision inside the security and military establishments. Somalis are just afraid that the extension will be a prelude to the elimination of the political process in Somalia as a whole.

The extension bypasses international warnings and demands by the Somali opposition for holding direct elections.

Farmaajo’s presidential term came to an end in February this year. The Somali opposition said it does not recognize him as a president of the country after the end of his term.