‘Somaliland Parliament should address the constitutional crisis’

'Somaliland Parliament should address the constitutional crisis' says House Speaker Irro

 

Hargeysa (Somaliland Globe) — The Chair of Somaliland's House of Parliament Mr Abdillahi Irro called on the President of Somaliland and the Chairmen of the two opposition parties to convene a face to face meeting as soon as possible in order to discuss the constitutional crisis that has arisen following the postponement of the Presidential elections.

Mr Irro reiterated his belief that the only way to avert a crisis is for the elections to take place in time and for the laws and constitution of the country to be respected and adhered to.

The presidential elections were due to take place in Somaliland on 29th March 2009 following an extension to the current administrations term of office in 2008 when the elections were supposed to be held in May 2008 and were delayed. However the 29th March date for the election was postponed as the Somaliland National Election Commission (NEC) stated that they will not be able to hold the elections on that date. The NEC named another date for the Presidential elections, 31st May 2009.

The Chairman of the house Parliament stated that the legislative body of the current, Parliament, which he chairs is the only body which is equipped and legally obliged to deal with and address the current constitutional crisis in Somaliland.

As the current administration's term of office runs only until 6th April, following a one year extension, the opposition parties demanded that the two houses of Parliament (Guurti and Parliament) convene and extra-ordinary meeting and appoint a care taker government to prepare the country for elections. The house of Parliament has also on 21st February passed a resolution calling for a joint session of the two houses of Parliament following the end of the current administrations term.