Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi alias Farmaajo signed into law the electoral bill on Friday, passing one more hurdle for the country to hold planned polls this year.
The law allows every eligible citizen to directly vote for their leaders, as opposed to the system where clan elders selected delegates to vote for leaders.
“You, the people of Somalia, can see that the bill had been endorsed by both the Peoples’ Hall and by the Upper House, and I have signed it in this ceremony. It returns the power to you so you can vote for the (political) party you choose and for the person you want,” Farmaajo said.
The president signed the bill into law during the closing ceremony of the 6th assembly of Somalia’s 10th Parliament, allowing the legislators to take a two-month break.
The gathering that started on Thursday evening went on beyond midnight at the Villa Somalia, the official residence of the Somali President in Mogadishu.
By ABDULKADIR KHALIF for The East African
Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is the world’s largest organisation rehabilitating over 1.78 million amputees and polio patients by fitting/providing artificial limbs (Jaipur Foot variety), calipers, and other aids and appliances, mostly in India and also in 27 countries across the world.
It has its headquarters at Jaipur, India. It is a pan-Indian organisation having 23 branches, spanning Srinagar to Chennai and Ahmedabad to Guwahati. Metropolitan cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Varanasi, Patna, etc also have limb fitment centres of BMVSS.
Apart from providing the widest possible range of services for the disabled, BMVSS is also focused on research and development, and tries to combine service with science.