Workshop series for selected members of the Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies in Somalia continues
Under the German Federal Foreign Office funded project ‘Capacity Building and Legal Advice for the Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies in Somalia’ , the Max Planck Foundation organised another round of workshops for members of all Federal Member State Legislative Assemblies. The Somali Legal Advisors trained by the Foundation during the third training-of-trainers workshop held under the project in September 2023 conducted the workshops on the topic of Organization and Management of Multi-level Elections.
The workshop covered two key elements: the election system and the election management body. First, various electoral systems were explored such as majoritarian/plurality, proportional representation and mixed systems, discussing their features and impact on political representation with the use of country case studies. For the second part, the presentation examined different models of election management body administration, detailing their design, compositions and functions. During the working group discussions, the participants then analysed the outcomes of each electoral system by applying these systems in four distinct scenarios and discussed how these systems could be tailored in Somalia’s context.
The workshop was first held in Baidoa for selected members of the South-West State Assembly on 11 February 2024, in Jowhar for members of the Hirshabelle State Assembly on 28 February 2024 and in Garowe for members of the Puntland House of Representations on 6 March 2024. On 9 March 2024, the workshop took place in Dhusumareb and in Kismayo for members of the Galmudug and Jubaland State Assembly respectively.
The workshop allowed the participants to develop a deeper understanding of how certain electoral models might function within the unique dynamics of Somalia.