summary:
On May 18, 1991, after suffering 21 years under the brutal military dictatorship of General Siyad Barre and experiencing three decades of marginalization as part of the united Somali Republic, Somaliland unilaterally reclaimed its pre-union independence from Somalia. In the following years, a nascent democratic system was established. A National Charter was approved by consensus soon after the withdrawal of the union, in which it was agreed that the government would be based on a system of power-sharing between clans.
This transitional arrangement was then superseded by a national constitution of the republic, which was confirmed near-unanimously by a national referendum in 2001, in which 97% of voters approved. With its approval, the constitution legally ushered in the progression from clan-based politics to a multiparty democratic system. Since then, Somaliland has held eight successful democratic elections, including three presidential elections (in April 2003, June 2010 and November 2017), two parliamentary elections (in September 2005 and May 2021) and three local council elections (in December 2002, November 2012 and May 2021). All the aforementioned elections were conducted in a peaceful and inclusive manner, a very rare occurrence in this volatile Horn of Africa region, which is overwhelmingly dominated by long-sitting, undemocratic, and authoritarian leaders.
Beyond that, in 2016, Somaliland conducted the most advanced voter registration processes in Africa, according to Abdikadir Iman Warsame, Chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) of Somaliland, in which an iris-based biometric system was used for one of the first times anywhere in the world. Although Somaliland has been practicing multiparty democracy for almost two decades now, it has in many ways failed to institutionalize this system. Of the several major setbacks and shortcomings of the democratic process, one of the most serious and intractable is repeated election delays, in which extensions are granted to the term periods of Somaliland’s representative institutions. Such delays have occurred at all levels of government, from the executive and legislative to the local. A catalogue of these delays are as follows:
- Both of Somaliland’s former democratically elected presidents, Dahir Rayale (2002–2010) and Ahmed Silanyo (2010–2017), ended up sitting for two years more than their five-year legally mandated terms.
- Local councilors, who were elected in December 2002, saw their term limits expire in 2008, yet remained in office for another five years, until the next round of local elections finally took place in November 2012. Those then elected have also passed beyond their first five years without having to again compete for their post. Also, their extended term expired in April 2019. Their election happened in May 2021. Between April 2019 and May 2021, the local councils were functioning and remained in their offices without having any legitimacy or even extension.
- More remarkably, the current House of Elders (Guurti) has not undergone a single official membership contest since its original representatives were selected in February 1997 for a six-year term. Instead, the only changes to Guurti membership have been as a result of death or of personal choice to leave the House, and over the last 25 years, these factors have reduced the original membership to less than 15 members. The rest of the members took over through inheritance. According to Article 59 (1) of the Somaliland Constitution, the age required to serve as a member of the Guurti is 45 years old; despite this, many of its new members fall below this age and face little scrutiny.
- In the same manner, it has become normal behavior for political parties to postpone their General Assembly conferences and Central Committee meetings.
- In summary, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) remains the only election-stakeholder institution in Somaliland that has not had its term extended since the establishment of multiparty democracy in 2002. In fact, there have been six different commissions in the last two decades, and responsibilities have been transferred smoothly between one set of commissioners to the next. The current Commission is the 6th. Two sets among the past five have not even finished their term completely. NEC is the only body that allows to go without even finishing their term let alone extension.
Main Election Events for the last 6 months.
On April 27, 2022, a letter signed by five members of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) stated that the members had fired the chairperson of the commission, Abdirashid Mohamoud Ali, and elected Kaltun Sheikh Hassan as the new chairperson. Abdirashid issued a statement disputing the dismissal and insisting that he is still the chairperson. There are seven members in total on the National Electoral Commission. In February 2022, Abdifatah Ibrahim Hassan, the longest serving commissioner, resigned, and his position has yet to be filled at that time. Therefore, it means that all the members of the Commission, except Abdirashid, agree to the dismissal of his chairmanship.
On May 10th, 2022, the President appointed a five-member committee to investigate the members of the National Electoral Commission in accordance with Article 15 of the Elections Act, Law No. 91/2020. [1] Kaltun Sheikh Hassan[2] argues that the members appointed by the President to investigate the National Electoral Commission are not independent. At least three of them, including the chairman of the committee, Mohamed Jama, are known members of the ruling party, Kulmiye. Moreover, the opposition accused the President of interfering with the work of the National Electoral Commission. Later, all the members of the NEC resigned.
On May 23rd, 2022, the House of Representatives (the House) approved four members of the Committee for Registration of Political Associations and Approval of National Parties (The Registration Committee), while the House rejected three members[3]. After two weeks, the House approved the remaining three members of the registration committee. [4]
On June 11th, 2022, the president submitted to the House, a new seven members for the National Electoral Commission. [5] On June 20th, the House approved four members of the NEC while rejecting the remaining three[6]. On September 06th, the House approved the remaining three members of the NEC. [7]
On June 27th, 2022, the registration committee announced that they had started the registration of the new political associations. [8]
On August 14th, 2022, the registration committee released the names of the 15 new political associations that had successfully registered. On August 18th, the registration committee awarded provisional certificates to the newly registered organizations that will expire within 6 months. [9]
On September 19th, 2022, the House voted in favour of two motions to amend the General Elections Law[10] and the Political Party Registration Law[11], to combine the presidential election and the direct election of the political parties/associations. [12] On the next day, members from the House opposed the bill passed by their House and called on the Guurti to reinstate the bill.
On September 26th, 2022, the chairman of the Guurti said in a letter to the House that he had returned the amended election bill after receiving a legal complaint from members of the House.
On September 27th, 2022, the Speaker of the House challenged the decision of the chairman of the Guurti and said that it has no legal basis according to the articles of the constitutions of 77(1) and 78 (1&2). [13] Referring the Article 78 (1) of the constitution, he called the House of Elders (Guurti) to vote on the two amended election bills.
On September 24th, 2022, Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) said that they would hold the presidential election within nine months, beginning on October 1st, 2022. This means the required technical extension would have been less than seven months because the president’s term expires on December 13, 2022. [14]
On October 1st, 2022, the House of Elders (Guurti) unilaterally voted to extend the term and mandate of the President for two years, starting on December 13th, 2022. The NEC’s technical suggestion was ignored by the Guurti. They extended their term for five more years. The opposition parties rejected the Guurti extension and said that they would not recognize the legitimacy of the president after November 13th.
Guurti: the biggest challenge to the Somaliland’s democratization process:
Questioning the legality of extensions.
In February 1997, Somaliland’s 82 members of the Guurti were selected in Hargeisa. On February 16th, 2003, the President of Somaliland, Daahir Rayaale Kaahin [15], submitted to the House of Representatives a bill about the indirect election of the Guurti[16]. When the bill reached the floor of the House of Representatives, discussions and controversial comments erupted related to the bill, particularly a seven-members election commission in the bill, who will be responsible for the indirect election of the Guurti. The bill suggested that the president to nominate the committee.
Since the Guurti’s term was set to expire at the end of March 2003, “unlike article 42(3) of the constitution, which allows the extension to the House of Representatives by a resolution from the Guurti,” there is no provision in the constitution for the extension of the Guurti’s term [17]. The House of Representatives decided to postpone the discussion of the Guurti’s indirect election bill but considered the more pressing issue of the fast-approaching end of the 6-year term of the Guurti.
On March 27th, 2003, both Houses of Parliament passed a single-article law from the indirect election bill, called Article 19, and the president signed it into law. The single article law, of Article 19, stated that the term of the Guurti is to expire one year after the term of the House of Representatives. After approving that single Article Law in 2003, the Guurti received an automatic two-year extension ending on May 16th, 2005, and a few months later, they received another extension.
Their term was supposed to expire on October 15th, 2006, one year after the election of the House of Representatives. But the Guurti received a four-year extension in May 2006, starting in October 2006.
On September 16th, 2006, another Guurti’s indirect election bill[18] was introduced and the House of Representatives approved it, but the Guurti rejected the indirect election bill on September 23rd, 2006. As article 78(5) of the constitution requires, when the Guurti rejects a bill from the House of Representatives by a two-thirds vote, the constitution requires that the House of Representatives to overturn by a two-thirds majority vote. Unfortunately, they could not raise such a majority, and the bill failed.
Since March 2003, the single article law of Article 19 has been one of the main legal justifications that the Guurti have used to extend their term. But, unfortunately, only a very few people saw or heard of this single article law. If you try to find it in the government’s Official Gazette or the House of Representatives’ website, you can’t find it. According to CPA’s Election Monitoring Information, the Guurti made extensions of more than 32 times to the terms of the office of the President, the House of Representatives, the Local Councils, and their House of Elders as well.
On October 1st, 2022, the Guurti extended their term from January 2022 to January 2027. By the end of January 2027, it will be the 30th anniversary of when was selected by this sitting House of Representatives.
Conclusion:
Somaliland’s democracy is a success story that can be emulated by other African countries, particularly the neighboring Somalia and its federal member states. They usually adopt the election laws, lessons learned, successes and experiences of the Somaliland’s democratization process. For example, the Puntland state of Somalia has started to use the same voter registration system as Somaliland’s.
On the other hand, one of the bad lessons that Somaliland is exporting to the other countries is, that elected officials are to remain in office when their terms expire. In other words, that the extension to become a reward given to a politician or a leader who has failed to do his job.
So, it is worth noting:
That the president of Somaliland, Muse Bihi Abdi, during his 2016/2017 presidential campaign and after he become a president, was publicly advocated against the extensions. President Bihi said that the responsibility of holding the elections rests with the government, promising to hold the combined elections as scheduled, unless there is force majeure. [19]
It is worth noting that there are no circumstances in the country mentioned under article 83 of the constitution. However, there is an election delay resulting from an election dispute.
It is worth noting that both the government and the opposition parties gave their full confidence to the current National Election Body. The election body has already produced an election timeline that reflects the most appropriate time to hold the upcoming election.
So, the only problem, that exists now is, lack of political agreement between the election stakeholders. Everyday counts, and if no agreement is reached as soon as possible, it will cause another delay to the technical election roadmap from the NEC.
WAYFORWARD:
- ELECTION TIMELINE: Since the National Election Commission produced an election timeline, supporting and implementing that roadmap is the only solution and way out of the current election dispute.
- Political Commitment: A solution is not possible without an agreement between the election stakeholders and also a political commitment from the party leaders. As the head of state, the president bears a great deal of responsibility for the conduct of elections; without his commitment, no solution or way out is possible. We call on the president to take the lead of solving the current prolonged election dispute.
- Mediation: Negotiations between the election stakeholders are the best way to solve the current prolonged election dispute. If the parties are failed to solve their differences, then we are calling on the Somaliland Friends to help the political leaders reach an agreement to overcome this difficult situation, as they did in 2009. [20]
- GUURTI CASE: The Guurti’s decision to extend their term and the presidential mandate was a politically motivated decision. Their decision has no legal basis, since there are no circumstances mentioned under article 83 of the constitution and also, they ignored the technical recommendation from the NEC as article 6(4) of Law No. 91/2020 stating. So, we are recommending that Guurti’s election should be the first priority of the upcoming new president. [21]
- CITIZEN’S RIGHTS: According to the articles of the constitution of 9(1), 21, 22, 23, 28(1), and 32, the Somaliland citizens have a right to legally challenge the Guurti’s decision, which is against their right to elect their leaders.
REFERENCES:
[1] Article 15, titled “the Dismissal of the [members] of the Commission,” sets out the process of firing a member of the National Electoral Commission if one of the following exists:
- If the member loses one of the requirements for membership in the Commission.
- If the member is unable to perform his/her tasks due to incompetence or on the grounds of illness.
- If the member commits unethical behavior, theft, corruption, nepotism, or similar actions,
[2] At the time, she was elected as the Chairperson of the National Electoral Commission.
[3] Golaha Wakiilada JSL oo Cod U Qaaday Gudida Diwaan Galinta Urrurada JSL.-YouTube
[4] XILDHIBAANADA GOLAHA WAKIILADA SOMALILAND OO ANSIXIYEY XUBNIHII KA HADHSANAA GUDIDA FURISTA URURADA. – YouTube
[5] Madaxweynaha Somaliland oo Golaha Wakiiladda u gudbiyay Todobada Xubnood ee Guddiga Doorashooyinka. – YouTube
[6] Golaha wakiilada Somaliland oo ansixiyay 4 ka mida xubanaha Komishanka doorashooyinka – YouTube
[7] GOLAHA WAKIILADA SOMALILAND OO ANSIXIYEY XUBNIHII KA DHINAA GUDIDA DOORASHOOYINKA SOMALILAND. – YouTube
[8] Gudida Diiwaangalinta Ururadda Siyaasada oo bilaabay maanta diwaan galinta Ururada siyaasada – YouTube
[9] Gudida Diiwan-gelinta Ururada Siyaasada Somaliland Oo Maanta Liisamadoodii Siiyay Ururada Siyaasada. – YouTube
[10] Law No. 91/2020
[11] Law No. 14/2011
[12] Golaha Wakiilada Somaliland oo Ansixiyay Mooshinka Waxkabadelka Xeerka Dooroshooyinka. – YouTube
[13] Degdeg :golaha Wakiilada Oo Jawaab Uga Bixiyay 2xeer Ee Banaanka Ay Usoo Tuureeen Golaha Guurtida – YouTube
[14] Doorashada Madaxtooyadu wakhtigeeda Kuma dhacayso iyo sababta?Guddida Doorashooyinka JSL – YouTube
[15] He was the President of Somaliland, between May 2002 to July 2010
[16] JAMHUURIYADD SOMALILAND (somalilandlaw.com) Accessed October 2022
[17] Jama, I. H. (2009). Somaliland Law Series. Retrieved October, 2022, from www.somalilandlaws.com.
[18] According to the record of Somaliland Laws website, the 2006 Indirect Election Bill of the Guurti was the only Guurti Election Bill that reached the floor. The Guurti rejected the bill 68 votes out of the 82 members of the House Guurti_Election_Bill_2_indirect_2006.pdf (somalilandlaw.com)
[19] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr8DB3BCNqI
[20] In September 2009, When the Somaliland political leaders failed to reach an agreement, the International Partners intervened and pressured the political leaders to reach an agreement. That agreement, saved the country from a chaos.
[21] The president who won the upcoming presidential election can b