Somalia has not had a functional government since 1991, when rival warlords overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and turned on each other. Under a 2009 deal, its transitional government mandate is to expire on Aug. 20 this year, by which time it should have enacted a new constitution and held a parliamentary election. “The Somali Parliament voted today to add three years more to their term,” Speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden told reporters. Aden said of 435 legislators present during the vote, 421 voted in favor, 11 against and three abstained.

“The extended term is thus appropriate,” he said.

Legislators said the next step was for parliament to elect a new speaker and deputy in the next sitting, while the president was expected to present himself for re-election, if he willed so, by July.