“After two decades of civil war, a collapsed state and innumerable indignities to the proud Somali people, we are hours away from the election of a new president – the event that will completely end the transitional period and move us towards a phase of political and socio-economic transformation,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Somalia, Augustine P. Mahiga, said in an open letter to the country’s parliamentarians.

Mahiga, who also heads the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS), called on the parliamentarians to choose the candidate who will be “honest and effective in leading the country with a vision appropriate for the next four years of transformation and peace-building.”

After decades of warfare, Somalia has been undergoing a peace and national reconciliation process, with the country’s transitional governing arrangements coming to an end with the implementation of the so-called Roadmap for the End of Transition.

The 10 September election will mark the culmination of a series of landmark events in recent weeks, including the adoption of Somalia’s provisional constitution, the inaugural meeting of its new parliament – which Mahiga described as the “most qualified and representative” in the country’s history – and the appointment of that body’s speaker.

“It has not been easy getting us to this point,” noted Mahiga. “In addition to the privations you have all endured during these past difficult years, the political process and the security situation has not been easy. There have been moments when all seemed lost and we have sometimes been on the brink of despair.

“Nevertheless, somehow, the courage, tenacity and determination of the Somali people has overcome these formidable obstacles and brought us to where we are now.”

He urged them to listen to the presidential candidates as they publicly present their visions, and to make their choice accordingly, adding that all Somalis, the region and the rest of the international community are watching during these remaining few days.

“My brothers and sisters, it is all up to you,” he added. “You are the highest sovereign authority in the land. You are the custodians of the future which is now in your hands.”

Yemen has been undergoing a democratic transition, under the leadership of President Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi Mansour, who came to power in an election in February. This followed an agreement signed by warring factions in November 2011 on a transitional settlement in the wake of widespread protests similar to those seen across the Middle East and North Africa, and the resignation of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The outcome of the national dialogue conference will feed into the constitution-making process that is to conclude in late 2013, enabling general elections to take place in February 2014.

Mansour has appointed a representative preparatory committee tasked with preparing the ground for the conference; and Ban commended him, as well as the Government and people of Yemen, for “their determination to keep the transition process on track,” the spokesperson said.

He also noted that Ban’s Special Adviser on Yemen, Jamal Benomar, has just concluded a two-week mission to the country during which he engaged with all Yemeni sides to support preparations for the national dialogue and other transition tasks.

The UN has been providing support in Yemen’s transition in four key areas: political facilitation; technical support; capacity-building; and a public information and awareness campaign.

Last weekend, Egypt held the second round of its presidential election, a key element of the transition to greater democracy that began in January 2011 when a popular uprising overthrew the long-standing regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Egyptian electoral authorities are scheduled to announce the official results of the run-off poll on Thursday. The run-off pitted Mohammed Mursi, representing the Muslim Brotherhood, against ex-prime minister Ahmed Shafiq.

“The Secretary-General continues to follow events in Egypt closely,” the Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, told the Security Council, as he briefed the 15-member body on the latest developments in the Middle East. “He looks forward to the early handover of full authority to a civilian government.”

Ban “underscores his concern that the country’s transition should meet the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people and of the international community for the establishment of strong, representative, democratic institutions and for the popular will to be respected – both in the elections and in the drafting of a new Constitution,” Fernandez-Taranco added.

In addition to Egypt, the popular uprisings that began last year resulted in the toppling of long-standing regimes in Tunisia, Libya and Yemen, and led to the violence and humanitarian suffering that continues in Syria.

According to exit polls by opinion poll companies ALCO, MRB, Metron Analysis, Opinion and MARC for NET, Alpha, ANT1 and Mega channel, Public Issue for SKAI TV and KAPA Research for TOVIMA.gr, political parties would get:

According to MEGA channel, in a meeting held at ND headquarters just after the exit polls were announced, ND leader Antonis Samaras and his colleagues rejected the scenario of new elections; as noted, Samaras will accept the mandate by the President of the Republic and will attempt to form a government.

As regards PASOK, two main issues are under discussion: first, whether and how to participate in a coalition or a government of national unity and second, what will happen with PASOK itself. According to sources, more and more party cadres tend towards a government of national unity.

In the last couple of years, the approach has been more destructive than creative, not only because the latter follows the former’s forceful march into people’s lives, but because Greeks seem to consider that they can have everything: growth, which Europeans talk so much of; compensation for lost incomes and consumerist lifestyles and finally respect on behalf of the international community that is cumulatively represented in people’s minds as ‘the lenders’. On Sunday, all these are at stake.

In the long run, Greece is solely in Greeks’ hands, despite pressure from foreign powers that comes and goes with regular intervals. EU/IMF executives know that they will continue to be concerned with the way we live our lives here, in Europe’s southeast corner.

EU countries, of course, will not stop worrying about anti-MoU dynamics in Greece, not only recorded in the ballot boxes on Sunday, but as a general social force of people who see their incomes flattened and future prospects to remain fuzzy.

Pre-election statistics indicate that what the future holds could be totally different than Greek politicians have drawn in the last 30 years in the so-called “Metapolitefsi”, that is the period that marks the restoration of democracy in the country. By the way, I haven’t met a Greek, who knows the exact meaning of this generically paradox term, which is probably a loan from the post-Modernism jargon, minus the sophistication. For what is worth, this period, besides democracy, seems to have “restored” some really deep socialist and right-wing pockets. The recent Tsohatzopoulos case is just the beginning; in order to qualify as a term, catharsis needs a few more public figures to go down.

So, what’s going to be on Sunday? A youngster told me this morning that for the first time he and his friends will actually turn up to vote; then they plan to gather at someone’s home with some pizzas and the usual 6-packs to watch the… derby. “It would be fun…” he said.

Either a joke or a new reality, Sunday’s election tele-marathons will resemble a Colosseum; old political parties will be chewed up by civil society over a mix of old fashion nihilist anger and empty pockets. Disappointment was always present in Greek politics as regards mainstream parties, especially amongst the young. In the last couple of years, Net generation have seen its future disappearing further away in the horizon. Last year’s figures show that unemployment in the 15-29 age group has reached 40%, turning a jobless state of life into a condition of apathy.

“I cannot believe that people are on the streets holding flags, participating in the two parties’ rallies… how stupid Greeks can be?” a young girl said in an Athens café over Skype to a group of fellow students in Warwick, who were asking about the situation in the country.

Stupid or not, votes are needed for the country to be governed by a “coalition of the willing”, preferably technocrats who can offer real solutions to long- standing problems. They would also need to break some myths that continue to demonize public dialogue, turning necessary structural changes and reforms into cursed MoU material.

Dr. Demetris Kamaras is the Editor of AlYunaniya.

photo: Edward de Bono’s ’6 hats Theory’

“Praising or glorifying Muammar Qaddafi, his regime, his ideas or his sons… is punishable by a prison sentence,” said the text of the law read out to reporters by officials, Reuters reported.

The ruling National Transitional Council’s judicial committee on Wednesday read out laws including an amended version of one governing formation of political parties, with no mention of the ban, which was announced last week against parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity.

It said then that the electoral law was put forward to preserve “national unity”.

Libyans vote in June to elect a national assembly for the first time since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi. Eighty of the 200 seats will go to political parties, with the rest reserved for independent candidates, according to BBC.

Dozens of parties have launched since then with the intention of contesting the constituent assembly election that the NTC has pledged to to hold elections by June 19.

Registration centers opened throughout the country on 1 May, and voters have two weeks to register.

The NTC has promised to hold elections by the end of June, but Western diplomats say this might slip until later in the summer.