Ms Zamzam Dahir Mohamoud was on Sunday elected the first woman member of Somalia’s Upper House.

She won the race against another woman, Ms Faduma Moalim Omar. The vote was held in Adado town, the capital of Galmudug State, some 475 kilometres north of Mogadishu.

The contest was for one of the eight seats reserved for women in the 54-member Upper House.

The provisional Somalia Constitution provides for a two-chamber Parliament; the Upper House and the 275-member Lower House.

The two chambers are expected to elect the federal president on November 30, this year.

The regional authorities are required to allocate 30 per cent of the seats in both chambers of the parliament to women.