Osman threatened to lock up parliament until it chose a premier

Evidence

The president’s frustration with the opportunistic game of a significant number of MPs is best illustrated in an exchange he had with one of the key opposition leaders, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal. Egal asked the president to “avoid rushing through the premiership and the ministers.” Osman replied, “I told him not to worry, because I will avoid the occurrence of changes in the composition of the government. At worst I will convene all 120 deputies in one room and ask them to name one candidate to the premiership without letting them out until we accomplish our task and will them to dismantle the blocs.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1365

Categorization

• QUESTION: This anecdote hints at factional bloc politics among Somali MPs that may be worth tracing earlier — which blocs existed in 1961?