SOMALILAND: The Exceptional Emergency Powers Of The Council of Elders In Somaliland

The Exceptional Emergency Powers Of The Council of Elders In Somaliland

The Exceptional Emergency Powers Of The Council of Elders To Extend The Tenure Of The President Create Disincentives To Plan And Hold The Elections In a Timely Manner

Somaliland: Proposals for electoral reform

Dr. Mohamud A. Jama

The Somaliland Election commission postponed the presidential elections scheduled for March 29 2009 to May 31. The Somaliland's Council of Eldersextended the delay to October 2009. The Council of Elders had similarly postponed the election for six months in 2008 and for a year in the 2002 presidential elections.  

The Government and the Election Commission had five years to plan the election. TheCouncil of Elders did not act to pre-empt the delays in the holding of the elections. The repeated postponements of the presidential elections demonstrate the absence of a legal mechanism to enforce and ensure timely holding of the election. Indeed, the exceptional emergency powers of the Council of Elders to extend the tenure of the President create disincentives to plan and hold the elections in a timely manner.

A. Is the voter registration system necessary to holding fair and free elections?

The Election Commission has introduced a high-tech biometric based voter registration and identification system with financial support of the donor countries and technical support of Interpeace, a Geneva based international nongovernmental organization, and consulting subcontractors of Interpeace in India, who manage the voter registration server.  

Somaliland does not have a system of vital registration to verify citizenship, identity and age of potential voters. The local partisans of the political parties in their campaign to register their supporters presented the voter registration as a census of the district and regional voters, which will determine allocation of parliamentary seats in future elections, thereby encouraging under age and multiple registrations of voters.  

The preliminary counts of registered voters were more than two times the total number of the last presidential elections. Almost half of the registered voters do not have corresponding biometric data. The feasibility of detecting and weeding out under age voters and multiple registrations is highly questionable. Challenges of these voters during the Election Day will be difficult to resolve and is likely to cause delays and disruptions or even violence. Registration in most parts of the eastern seven districts did not take place. The under-registration of the voters in these districts would compound other irregularities in the registration of voters and distort the election outcome.

B. What has been Somaliland's experience with elections?

Somaliland held presidential, parliamentary and local government elections. All of these elections were held without voter registration system. In the 2003 presidential elections, disputes were based on improper documentation of the results of the election in some polling stations and irregularities in the recording of the disputed ballots after their review and resolution by the representative of the parties and election officials. Because of the closeness of the votes, the outcome of the entire election in the final analysis was decided as a result of the Commissions decisions on contested ballots and the exclusion of the ballots of small number of polling stations. Yet, the election results were accepted by the principal opposition party.

C. What can be done to ensure fair and free presidential election?

Somaliland's transition from clan-based election of officials to multi-party election of officials contributed to its peace and stability. The international community has consistently acknowledged Somaliland's peaceful political process. Serious disputes in the current election cycle could undermine its stability and international reputation. Both the voters and the candidates and their parties should subordinate wining the election to fixing the process to ensure the fairness and legitimacy of the elections.  

The following recommendations are proposed for consideration of the legislatures, parties and government of Somaliland.

Recommendation 1: Reassess the voter registration system

1.  The commission and its donors and technical partners should undertake assessments of the risks of the system and provide assurance of its operability and functionality.

2.  The Council of Elders must take the lead in consultation to ensure the fairness and the security of election process. The Council should consider to form an oversight consultative committee under its chairmanship and consisting representatives of the three parties and the Election Commission.

3.  With such assurance, the commission should review its proposed schedule and all of the parties should accept to have the election conducted as recommended by the election Commission.

4.  The registration system should be suspended if its functionality and operability can not be reasonably assured and the election conducted in accordance to the rules and procedures of the last presidential elections. The Commission should review its decision to schedule the elections for May 31 and consult with the political parties to reaffirm or schedule a new election date

Recommendation 2: Reset the voter registration process as vital registration system.

1.  The registration system should be reviewed and its procedures reformulated and re-started as a system of vital registration. The system should then be managed as a national vital registration system that record births, death and establish procedures for verifying and issuing identification documents.

2.  The future voter registration system should be based on documentation generated through the national vital registration system.

Recommendation 3: Reform the electoral system

1.  The election laws and regulations should be amended to stipulate that : 

1.  Political parties can be formed six months before scheduled local government elections.

2.  The two parties with the highest votes in local government elections will field candidates for the presidential election.

3.  Any party that gains 20% or more of the vote in one of the six original regions during the local government elections can field candidates in the Parliamentary elections. Parties that gain 10% of the total vote in the parliamentary election will qualify for seats.

4.  A party that does not win seats in the local government elections will be disbanded

 
8. The dates and bench marks for presidential, parliamentary and local government elections should be established by law.   
 

New York