Somaliland President and Opposition Leaders agree to resolve election delays

By: Hamse Yusuf, Horndiplomat contributor

Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi Met with met with the leaders of the opposition parties UCID and WADDANI, Faisal Ali Warabe and Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi at the presidential palace.

The two sides had fruitful discussions over implementation of the clauses of the mediation committee’s resolution to end the standoff on parliamentary and local elections.

The two sides delineated the following resolutions:

1: The three political parties should set forth the most appropriate date to hold the long-overdue elections.

2: The three political parties should remove the bottlenecks and constraints in holding Parliamentary and Local elections.

3. The parties should deeply discuss the decision of the Mediation Committee.

Meanwhile, High-level International partners who support Somaliland’s democratization process visited Somaliland for talks related to Somaliland upcoming elections.

The delegation met with the Mediation Committee, political parties and representatives of civil society organizations.

The international partner’s delegation backed the proposal of the mediation committee issued on the dispute about the newly formed Somaliland National Election Commission.

On December 16, 2019, The Mediation Committee tasked to find a common ground between Somaliland government, the ruling Kulmiye party and the two main opposition parties have issued several resolutions which will bring an end to the protracted political impasse in the state.

“We propose that commissioners whose term had just ended be reinstated once more. The incumbent commissioners have taken up office amid controversies that do not augur well for timely elections,” the Chairman of the voluntary committee drawn up from, mainly, the business committee and nationally prominent elders, stated at a press conference it held Monday.

“We, also, believe that the dissolved NEC members had the right requisites to hold another credible election due to their experience and know-how on the techniques and technicalities involved in a highly technical field,” the Committee added.

The Committee urged all stakeholders to avoid media statements and utterances which could potentially further ignite incendiary issues, adding fuel to the fire. The Committee specifically directed its advice on opposition parties a number of whose members have made, of recent, a habit of calling for measures some of which questioned the very statehood of the nation.

This is a developing story, Please check back at the Horndiplomat for Updates.

© Horn Diplomat 2019