Somalia’s Minister of Planning, investment and economic development Gamal Muhumed Hassan has won the by-election of a Parliamentary seat in the lower house vacated by Dhahar Ali Farah.
Farah has been appointed as the Somali consul to Djibouti following his resignation as a member of the country’s parliament.
Ambassador Jamal has defeated his main rival candidate Mohamud Abdullahi in the by-election held on Sunday in Garowe.
The Minister joins the bulk of Federal Ministers holding seats in the Lower House Chamber of Somal parliament with reports indicating that 74% of the cabinet are now also lawmakers.
The country has relied on a clan-based formula under which the lawmakers were selected by the clan delegates rather than constituents.
The electoral college model used by the Somali National Election Commission was instituted in 2016 whereby over 135 clan elders chose 14,025 delegates who then voted for each of the 275 seats in the lower house of parliament.
