Mo­gadishu – War-torn So­ma­lia will not be able to hold full elec­tions due next year, law­mak­ers said Tues­day, al­though it re­mained un­clear whether some kind of vot­ing process would still be held.

The cur­rent Pres­i­dent Has­san Sheikh Mo­hamud and par­lia­ment were ap­pointed by clan el­ders in 2012 with for­eign back­ers promis­ing full democ­racy in 2016, sig­nalling an end to decades of chaos and in­sta­bil­ity.

But the de­ci­sion to ditch plans for a full elec­tion high­lights that progress on key is­sues — no­tably se­cu­rity and the threat from Al-Qaeda-linked She­bab mil­i­tants — has not been as quick as hoped for.

“Par­lia­ment and the gov­ern­ment have agreed… there can­not be one man, one vote elec­tions in the coun­try in 2016,” said Ab­du­lahi Go­dah Bare, par­lia­men­tary com­mit­tee chair­man in charge of the elec­tion, cit­ing the po­lit­i­cal and se­cu­rity sit­u­a­tion in the coun­try.

Diplo­mats, who ad­mit­ted long ago that the timetable for elec­tions was too am­bi­tious, have said that rather than hold­ing a fully de­mo­c­ra­tic poll, al­ter­na­tives in­clud­ing re­ly­ing on clan el­ders to se­lect lead­ers may be con­sid­ered.

The West­ern-backed gov­ern­ment is propped up by a 22,000-strong African Union force, which fights along­side the So­mali army against the She­bab.

The Is­lamists carry out reg­u­lar at­tacks. The lat­est was on Sun­day, when a sui­cide truck bomber killed at least 13 peo­ple at a ho­tel which was pop­u­lar with gov­ern­ment of­fi­cials and for­eign vis­i­tors and housed three diplo­matic mis­sions.