Somaliland election commission chairman resigns

Somaliland election commission chairman resigns
1 Feb 1, 2009

HARGEISA, The chairman of an election commission resigned Sunday in Somalia's separatist republic of Somaliland, raising concerns of a delay in the upcoming presidential election, Radio Garowe reports.Mr. Mohamed Ismail "Kaboweyne" told a press conference the regional capital Hargeisa that he resigned after "some political parties" said they had no confidence in the election commission.

"We [election commission] were judging a match, but the match is not possible if all sides don't think we are neutral," Mr. Kaboweyne said, although he did not name which political party complained.Recent comments attributed to UCID opposition party's presidential candidate, Mr. Faisal Ali Warabe, threw into question how much confidence he had in the election commission.But Mr. Kaboweyne defended his record as chairman, saying that the election commission oversaw the voter-registration process ahead of the March 29 presidential election.

He becomes the second official to resign from the election commission, after a deputy chairman resigned last year, our correspondent reports.It is not clear what impact the election commission chairman's suprise resignation will have on the upcoming election.Current President Dahir Riyale is widely accused of violating the region's laws and illegally extending his term by an additional year in 2008, a development that postponed the original election date and damaged Somaliland's democratic record.

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