Somaliland Security Forces arrest two candidates from Opposition parties

By:Staff writer

Somaliland Security Forces arrested two candidates from UCID and Wadani Political Parties, in Hargeisa.

Sources confirmed the Election Monitoring Office of Center for Policy Analysis that  Qaasin Adan Saleban a parliamentary candidate of the Sool Region from the Waddani Party and Abdullahi Hirsi Hassan, a Local Councilor candidate of Berbera from UCID Party were arrested in Hargeisa. The government didn’t give any explanation related to their arrest.

According to the Somaliland election, For the last three months, nearly six candidates were arrested including these two candidates, 5 of them were candidates from the UCID party and one from Wadani Party. Three of them were released without any charges.

On March 31st, 2021, The Spokesperson of the Ruling Party of Kulmiye Abdinaasir Buuni mentioned that a number of candidates from his party was arrested in both the Awdal Region and Caynaba District of Sool Region.

The Spokesperson did not give any further explanation about the number of candidates, the dates arrested, why they were arrested and if they are released or not, but the Spokesperson confirmed that the arrested candidates are running both the Parliamentary and Local Council

Meanwhile, The Interim Chairman of Waddani Party Abdulkadir Jirde told the media said that the Police tried to arrest Kubra Hasan the Only Female Parliamentary Candidate of the Togdheer Region. He said that the police still looking for her to arrest and condemned that action.