Press Statement
For immediate release
2 October 2022
The Centre for Policy Analysis strongly condemns the term extension by the Guurti for themselves and the president.
We are deeply concerned over the unilateral unconstitutional vote by the Guurti on Saturday to extend the mandate of President Muse Bihi Abdi, whose term will expire on 13 December 2022.
The Guurti extended their term for five more years. The highly contentious move will delay the Guurti elections, which have already overstayed in 20 years. The Guurti members were selected at the Hargeisa clan conference that took place in 1997. Since then, no election or selection has been conducted to provide the Guurti members with a mandate. The majority of current members of the Guurti became members through inheritance, a process contrary to the democratic rules in the constitution.
Somaliland has been in a political dispute since January when the Supreme Court changed the laws concerning political parties/associations elections. The opposition and the ruling party failed to agree on the political process. On 11 August 2022, five civilian protestors were killed by security agencies that used excessive force, according to a Parliamentary report.
The National Electoral Commission said they would hold the presidential election within nine months, beginning on 1 October 2022. This means the required technical extension would have been less than seven months because the president’s term expires on 13 December 2022. The extension quadruples the period proposed by the body responsible for holding elections. Therefore, the extension has neither legal nor technical grounds.
The Centre for Policy Analysis calls on all stakeholders to reject the extensions made by the Guurti, which are illogical, unconstitutional and might destabilize the country. We call on the parties to resume the dialogue with good faith and agree on a roadmap that should include all upcoming elections.
Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA)
Hargeisa, Somaliland