Ms. Halimo Yarey, the Chairperson of the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC), has apologized for failing to hold free and fair elections in Somalia.
Mid this year, Halimo told the House of Representatives that her commission would be unable to hold credible elections on time.
Instead, she recommended postponing the elections to 2021.
Before her comments in July 2020, the country had been gearing up for the one-person-one-vote electoral model to usher in a period of true democracy.
Her comments broke the hearts of millions of voters in the country who had been looking forward to choose their preferred leaders directly.
However, after several meetings between the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS) and Federal Member States (FMS), it was decided that NIEC would not facilitate the elections.
Instead, the onus was given to Federal Electoral Commissions (FECs).
Each federal state was to nominate two members to the FECs. Another set of two would be appointed to the Dispute Resolution Commission (DRC).
Recently, Halimo issued a statement declaring that she is “a devout Muslim, a great believer in God, and a believer in His Messenger.”
She said that she already repented of her sins, in reference to inability to hold the elections that the entire country looked forward to.