Somalia appoints new PM, postpones the "One man, one vote model"

Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed has appointed Mohamed Hussein Roble as the country's new Prime Minister. 

Roble, a newcomer to Somalian politics will have to fill the vacancy left by the former PM Ali Khaire, who was removed by parliament last July, after failing to pave the way for fully democratic elections before early 2021.

 "Members of Parliament were told that Prime Minister Khaire is against the two years of government term extension so they expelled Khaire, remembers political analyst Dr. Hassan Sheikh Ali. From 2017 to 2021 - in four years, Somalia did not make any political progress, and that is unfortunate."

Swedish-trained civil engineer Roble's nomination as Prime Minister comes hours after an agreement was brokered with regional leaders, in which the "one person, one vote model" which was promised for the next year's elections has been dropped.

The foreign-backed government had been applauded in the past by the international community for pursuing the one person, one vote elections. However political infighting between the president and the country's regional leaders has lead the government to postpone the application of the UN-backed model until after the 2021 elections.