Thursday, January 08, 2009
MOGADISHU, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The parliament of the semiautonomous northeastern Somali region of Puntland have elected Abdirahman Mohamed Faroole as the region's president after he defeated other candidates including the outgoing president, reports from the region's capital Garowe said Thursday.
The election which was initially started with nine candidates vying for the presidential and vice presidential posts of Puntland but only two candidates, Faroole and Abdulahi Ilkajir, could make it through to the final around.
Faroole was elected with 49 votes while his rival garnered only17 votes in the newly formed 66-member legislature of the Somali region.
Faroole will be the fourth president of the regional state since it was formed in 1998. Former Somali President Abdulahi Yusuf Ahmed, who hails from the region and has been its first president, was in attendance at the election venue as an observer.
Abdisamad Ali Shire was elected as vice-president as the two jobs are contested separately under the region's constitution.
The presidential term is four years and the president as the chief executive of the regional state, names the regional cabinet which will manage the day-to-day affairs of the region with the national government theoretically responsible for national defense, and foreign affairs.
Puntland, which occupies one-third of Somalia's territory and has a population of a third of Somali people, unlike Somaliland in the northwest, does not seek outright independence from the rest of the country.
Bossaso, as the commercial capital of the state, is the largest port city in the region with half of the region's population. The local economy is based on agriculture, fishing and livestock.
SOURCE: Xinhua,Thursday, January 08, 2009
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