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‘Huge corruption’ in Somalia elections

25 November 2016 12:27pm

Massive cases of corruption and voter intimidation have marred the ongoing parliamentary elections in Somalia, the auditor general has told the BBC.

Bribes of between $1,000 - $5,000 (£800; £4,000) have been paid, Gen Nur Farah Jimale said.

The BBC has also learned that some candidates have been offering bribes of up to $1.3m (£1m) to secure votes.

Indirect elections have been taking place since October as the country remains too unsafe for a national vote.

Much of the country is still under the control of Islamist militant group al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda.

Gen Nur told the BBC Somali Service that some seats should be re-run because money had been used to "out-manoeuvre" other candidates, in some cases, meaning all but one candidate had withdrawn.

Cases of government resources being used in the election have also been documented, he said.

Somalia control map

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