DUSAMAREB, 3 February, 2021 (TON): To avoid the constitutional crisis, Somalia has opened urgent talks with the regional authorities in Dusamareb, as the nation looks certain to miss the 8 February deadline to elect the new president.

 Somalia's president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohammed, has convened an urgent 3-day meeting with federal state leaders. 

The conference is an attempt to break the election deadlock and avoid getting into a constitutional crisis.

The president’s mandate, Farmajo expires on 8 February, 2021.

Somalia's president is elected by the country's lawmakers made up of 275 members of parliament and 54 senators. But Somalia has failed to hold the necessary ballot to choose new lawmakers, so no new president can be elected.

"We are expecting to have amicable and open discussions for a fruitful solution to unlock the deadlock and create hopes for the people of Somalia regarding the election issues," said Somalia's information minister, Osman Dubbe.

Analysts are of the view that even if the agreement is reached, it is very certain that the election cannot happen by 8 February.

"I don't think there's any chance at all of the elections taking place before the end of this government's mandate," said Bryden, Senior Strategic Advisor at Sahan, a research institute with a focus on the Horn of Africa.

"Parliament's mandate already expired last month and the president's last day in the office is less than a week away. And there have been no preparations, no agreement on the type of electoral process that's supposed to happen," he told the media.

It welcomed the Dusamareb conference and urged those attending to come to an agreement on how the elections should proceed, the UN in Somalia said

Many view this meeting as the last chance to have the hopes attached with that it would resolve the election impasse, otherwise, if the federal and regional leaders are unsuccessful at finalizing the disputed electoral models it is likely to say that Somalia will be an uncharted area with no presidential and parliamentary mandate.