MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) – Colorful campaign posters in this seaside capital give the impression that Somalia’s presidential election on Wednesday will be like any other. That’s far from true.
Mogadishu is in lockdown because of violence by homegrown Islamic extremist group al-Shabab. The airport will be closed, and the vote will be confined to a heavily protected former air force base. Fears of attacks already have delayed the vote several times.
But suicide bombings aren’t the biggest threat as this Horn of Africa country, after a quarter-century, tries to put a fully functioning government in place under strong international pressure. Graft – vote-buying, fraud, intimidation – is the top concern in a nation that Transparency International now rates as the most corrupt in the world.
After decades of chaos and warlord-led conflict, the vote will be historic in this country of about 12 million. But some observers worry whether it will be credible.
Already the country’s auditor general, Nur Jimale Farah, has said two of the seats for parliament members who will elect the president have gone for $1.3 million apiece. Unlike in elections elsewhere, Somalia’s next leader will not be chosen by popular vote but by legislators, who were selected by the country’s powerful, intricate network of clans.