Presidents from Somalia’s Federal Member States, FMS, are meeting today in the central town of Dhusamareb in the Galmudug region.

Reports indicate that key issues to be discussed with the federal representatives are the electoral process and relations with federal government. There has been reports of tensions between the regional leaders and the Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo led federal government in Mogadishu.

The host president, Ahmed Abdi Karie, posted on Twitter that the Consultative Meeting is for the leaders to have a unified position on national elections.

Late last month, elections commission head, Halima Ismail Ibrahim, told federal lawmakers that prevailing conditions made it impossible to hold polls. She said the earliest an election could hold in the country was in March 2021.

In her address to the lower house of parliament, she presented two options – an election based on biometric registration which would be possible in August 2021 or a manual-based registration that can be held in March 2021.

A mandate extension for the current government has been strictly rejected by the opposition with the President and his Prime Minister also recently stating their disagreement with an extension.

Somalia currently is divided into six regional states. Puntland, Galmudug, Jubaland, South West State, Hirshabelle and Somaliland. The later continues to hold itself out as an independent state, though officially it is a semi-autonomous part of Somalia.

BREAKING: Five Somali regional leaders’ meeting opens in the central town of Dhusamareb. Among the key agendas to be discussed is electoral process and relations with federal leaders as some of the regional figures expressed serious differences with pres M_Farmaajo and his govt. pic.twitter.com/tn9t1yJvEk— Harun Maruf (HarunMaruf) July 11, 2020