MOGADISHU, Somalia Jan 10 (slashnews, Garowe Online) - Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) has sent its praise and congratulations to the new leaders of Puntland, a regional authority in the country's north, Radio Garowe reports.

Abdi Haji Gobdon, the TFG spokesman, told a Saturday press conference in the national capital Mogadishu that the Puntland election was "fair and democratic."

"Prime Minister Nur Adde [Hassan Hussein] and Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Abdisalam congratulate Dr. Abdirahman Farole and Gen. Abdisamad Ali Shire on their victory in the peaceful election," Mr. Gobdon said, adding that the TFG officials wish success for Puntland's new leaders.

Gobdon described the Puntland election as encouraging, adding that the Somali people expected a peaceful and well-organized election in Somaliland, a separatist state northwestern Somalia.

Somaliland is slated to hold its next election in March.

Puntland President Farole and VP Shire replace outgoing leaders Gen. Adde Muse and Hassan Dahir Afqura, and will stay in power for a term of four years.

Puntland's new leaders are expected to formally take power tomorrow after an official ceremony in Garowe, the region's administrative capital.

The Farole administration will inherit a state government that is functionally near-collapse, an economic environment devastated by the recent slump of the global economy and piracy off of the Somali coast.