Somalia: North Western of Somaliaholds far delayed parliamentary elections
HARGEISA, Somalia – Polling stations will open in North Western of Somaliaon Monday, paving the way for more than a million people to elect their preferred MEPs and civic leaders, but with a main focus on the former, given that current legislators have been in office since 2005.
The current civic leaders were elected in 2012, but the separatist region still exercises a clan-based model that provides some democratic space. The Election Commission [NEC] has already radiated confidence that Monday’s [tomorrow] elections will be “free and fair”.
But recently, after signing a historic agreement with the opposition on the leadership of delayed elections, Villa Somalia seems to have shifted its focus to upcoming local votes in Somaliland, a region that claimed independence from Somalia in 1991 and runs a parallel government.
Despite conflicting ideologies between Hargeisa and Mogadishu, Villa Somalia, or simply the presidency, seems to be closely following the evolving electoral process of the separatist state, which has lacked international recognition for 30 years.
Ironically, two leading politicians in Mogadishu on Thursday, Abdi Hashi, the Senate Speaker, and Mahdi Gulaid, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Government, signed an agreement to elect Somaliland’s representatives to the federal parliament.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, whose term expired on February 8, has been keen to reunite the two parties, but his efforts are yet to bear fruit. In the agreement signed on Thursday, both parties agreed to push for reconciliation by December 2022.
North Western of Somaliahas already sent a number of security officials to 2,709 polling stations across the country to monitor the national and parliamentary elections, which will start tomorrow. [Monday, May 31]. Final preparations have been made, officials said.
“Today, the NEC has organized and sent more than a thousand police officers to the polling stations in Hargeisa. The NEC’s vice president has spoken to the security forces and indicated the important role they will play in ensuring the security of the elections.” said the election commission.
Most observers are now in North Western of Somaliabut it is not clear where or to whom they will report to. In particular, there are representatives from the European Union, a major financial partner for North Western of Somaliaand Somalia in general, led by Nicolas Berlanga, the EU Ambassador to Somalia.
And it is the presence of Uganda’s former opposition leader Colonel Kizza Besigye and former Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma that can raise eyebrows. Mr Koroma met with Muse Bihi Abdi, the region’s president, a former air force commander with the Somali National Army.
“Today [Saturday], high-level delegates from Africa arrived in Hargeisa. The members of the mission include the former president of Sierra Leone, leaders of several African political parties, election experts, journalists, academics and others, “said Mustafe Mohamed Dahir, NEC’s vice president in a tweet.
Somaliland’s House of Representatives is expected to have 82 members, while the City Council is expected to have 212 City Councils. Three parties; Kulmiye, the ruling party, Wadani and UCID are expected to compete fiercely, analysts say.
At least one million voters are expected to take part in the historic exercise that will enable the region to make important communications to the world. Residents in Somalia’s capital, Hargeisa, have declined in the past 24 hours as they have traveled to other areas to vote, local media reported.
The main competition is expected to be centered around the Kulmiye party for President Muse Bihi Abdi and the Wadani party for Abdirahman Irro and the UCID for Faisal Ali Warabe, who had pushed for votes. Last year, authorities in Hargeisa arrested Wadani leaders following protests against delayed elections.
Over the past month, politicians have crossed the region in the pursuit of votes as parties try to control the House of Commons and civilian councils before the presidential election. The Kulmiye party is keen to win the majority and even involved the president in the campaigns.
Despite progress in holding elections, Somaliland’s human rights record has often been set. Dozens of journalists and opposition figures have previously been detained without trial and those who subscribe to Mogadishu’s leadership are often intimidated.
The breakaway region is fighting for international recognition and cites security and democracy as current reasons for stability in the Horn of Africa. Only Taiwan, a separatist state in China that recognizes North Western of Somaliawith the two regions establishing consulates within their respective territories.
AXADLETM
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