Somalia elects speaker, paves way for presidential vote

Somalia's parliament elected a veteran politician as speaker of the lower house in a drawn-out process that concluded in the early hours on Thursday, as the fragile nation edges closer to holding a delayed presidential vote.

The election is more than a year behind schedule, with the process marred by deadly violence and a power struggle between the current president and the prime minister.

Following the election of the upper house speaker on Tuesday, lawmakers in the lower house chose Sheikh Adan Mohamed Nur, better known as Sheikh Adan Madobe, as speaker in a process that extended into two rounds of voting.

The vote took place in a tent inside Mogadishu's heavily-guarded airport complex under tight security, following a spate of attacks in recent weeks by Al-Shabaab jihadists who have been waging an insurgency against the government for over a decade.

Madobe, 66, secured 163 votes out of the 252 ballots cast by lawmakers. He had previously served as speaker between 2007 and 2010. 

He is not known to be allied with either President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed or Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble, who have been sparring bitterly in recent months over the election process and security matters.

The president, better known as Farmajo, congratulated Madobe, saying in a statement that he hoped his election "becomes a starting point for a greater change that saves the country".

On Tuesday, 76-year-old Abdi Hashi Abdullahi was re-elected as speaker of the upper house. Parliament will now set a date for the presidential vote.