Somalia’s members of parliament have elected Sheikh Adan Madobe as the speaker of the country’s lower house of parliament.
Madobe’s election comes 24 hours after the upper house re-elected its speaker.
Recall, News Central reported on Wednesday that Abdi Hashi Abdullahi was re-elected the speaker of Somalia’s Senate, in a vote held in the country’s capital, Mogadishu
The election of speakers is a critical milestone in the long-running electoral process in the country.
The process of picking the country’s next president is expected to be spearheaded by the new legislative leaders, and it must be completed by the end of May.
Madobe, 66, previously served as speaker for two years during the late President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed’s transitional administration in 2007.
In a closely contested poll that ended in the early hours of Thursday, he received 163 votes against Hassan Abdinur’s 89 votes.
He was sworn in as president at the conclusion of the election, which took place in an air force hangar near the African Union peacekeeping mission base in Mogadishu.
The government had missed many election deadlines, resulting in US penalties against members of parliament.
Madobe previously served as the First Deputy Chairman of the Rahanweyn Resistance Army, before later joining the newly formed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of Somalia as Justice Minister and Speaker of the Transitional Federal Parliament.
From December 29, 2008 to January 31, 2009, Madobe briefly served as acting president of Somalia. In January 2014, he was appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce.