A presidential election aimed at restoring national government to lawless Somalia for the first time in 13 years went into a second round on Sunday after no outright winner emerged in the first ballot. The 275 lawmakers are voting in a second round contested by the three top candidates from the first ballot. Abdullahi Yusuf, 69, the Ethiopian-backed military ruler of Somalia's self-declared breakaway region of Puntland, came top in the first round with 80 votes, officials said. Former finance minister Abdullahi Addou came second with 35 and Mogadishu warlord Mohamed Qanyare was third on 33, according to an official tally. The election, the culmination of a two-year-old reconciliation process, is intended to provide Somalia with an executive head of state equipped to reimpose order on a country long a byword for anarchy. "Everything has been destroyed. They are starting from ground zero," Kenya's ambassador to Somalia Mohammed Affey said. Thirteen previous peace conferences have failed to stabilise the country of up to 10 million which is divided into clan-based fiefdoms. The interim parliament, made up mainly of militia bosses and traditional elders, held the vote in a converted basket ball court at a Nairobi sports complex ringed by paramilitary police armed with assault rifles. --More 1810 Local Time 1510 GMT
