Somaliland Needs
Reconciliation And Sensible / New Date of
Presidential Elections
The
present political climate in Riyales’ Government, in which
opposition parties are not able to operate freely and safely, is in
no way conducive to the holding of free, fair, and credible
Presidential elections scheduled first on March 2009 or the new date
of the Somaliland Commission has declared to be on May 31, 2009. The
primary obstacle is neither logistical nor technical, but rather the
determination of the Riyales’ Government ruling Party (UDUB) to
control the electoral process and restrict basic freedoms as they
have done previously on presidential and local government elections.
The recent ruling of the Somaliland Elderly or Gurti has extended
the Riyale and his government another six months has caused more
confusion, anger, disappointment, dishonest and dismay among the
Somalilnd people(Locally and in Diaspora) without clear
justifications.
Somaliland government recommends postponement of elections until the
conditions conducive to a free and fair poll are claiming by
reasoning the unsettled disputes on the recent Somaliland voter
registration and server malfunctions, but this justifications has no
place in the Somaliland Constitution, which clearly stated," The
Only way the Gurti can postponed an election or extend the president
term is only and only if there is a catastrophe or war which makes
impossible to hold elections, that is Article 83.
The refusal of Somaliland Commission or setting-up the date of the
up-coming Presidential election on May 31,2009 and later agreed on
the Gurti decision on September 27, 2009 is another indication of
buying the time to delay by any means necessary the election
timetable. This shows clearly that Mr. Riyale is not only acting the
President of Somaliland Nation but also a Commander of the
Somaliland Commission as well as the House of the Elders.
Somaliland Political Parties (Kulmiye and UCID) must recommend
concrete steps that educate Somali Landers for their rights and the
Somaliland government can take to minimize yet further human rights
abuses and even greater intimidation of Somaliland citizens in
exercising their right to elect their representatives. Such as free
and safe demonstrations, free media, free votes, free movements,
free trade, free basic rights and free human rights.
The Riyales’ government has launched an aggressive nationwide
campaign to pressure voters into signing up with the party. In
addition to monitoring opposition party members, it is following the
activities of groups it considers politically suspect, such as
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), students and
academics.Yesterday,the Riyale Government have distributed an order
letters to all Somaliland Hotels not to allow Kulmiye Party to held
their meetings at their hotels. This is remind us one of the
strategy of late President Siad Barre has had intimated Somaliland
Citizens.
Media regulations issued for the election campaign period has not
rectified opposition political parties’ lack of equal access to the
broadcast media.
International and local observer groups have to make much of a
presence in monitoring the electoral process.
Under the circumstances, there is no way elections scheduled for so
called September 27, 2009 can be free and fair, and no chance that a
deeply flawed and delayed electoral process will help Somaliland
either establish democracy or bring an end to disruptive Riyales’
government activity by a disgruntled opposition. We therefore
believe that the elections should be held as specified by the
Somaliland Commission on May 31, 2009 and not postponed. We caution,
however, that holding the elections in a timely fashion alone will
achieve little unless the Somali Land Citizens and the international
community speaks with one voice in setting forth the conditions that
must be met to guarantee a fair election and backs that up with
significant economic and diplomatic pressure. If the momentum toward
meeting the May 31, 2009 date can be halted, we believe the
International Community -- many of whom were instrumental in the
peace process of Somalia-organized elections -- have a particular
responsibility to try and ensure the safety of the voters and reduce
the likelihood that the voting will be manipulated, without at the
same time lending legitimacy to the process by providing "technical
assistance" to the Somaliland government.
The most important step the International Community could take at
this stage is to ensure that as many qualified observers and
monitors arrive in the country as soon as possible, to act as a
deterrent to political violence and intimidation of voters and
candidates in the months that remain, to monitor the actual polling
and vote-counting and protect the secrecy of the ballot.
In addition, if elections go forward, the donors should also insist
on a minimum set of conditions that are entirely within the
Somaliland government's power to meet, even at this late date. The
government should be asked to:
Take immediate and concrete steps to assure the electorate that how
they or their village vote will not be traced back to or used
against them. The best way to do this would be by moving the
location of the ballot count from the commune to the provincial
level and providing extra security and additional international
monitors to accompany the ballot boxes during transport.
Revise the media regulations established for the electoral campaign
period to enable immediate and full access of all parties to
government-owned or -controlled media and the right of ownership by
political parties of private media, as well as the right of
political parties to broadcast or print political statements. Amend
the media regulations to disallow pre-press censorship by the
National Election Commission, which is in violation of Somaliland's
Constitution and press law. Broaden the amount of airtime for all
political parties and improve the content of election coverage by
facilitating election programming on television and radio by
independent NGOs (round table discussions, talk shows, and the
like).
Make public statements to underscore the secrecy of the ballot,
explicitly stating that voters should vote their consciences and are
in no way be holden to any pre-poll pledges that may have made to
vote for any party. Such statements are likely to ring hollow,
however, unless a massive international monitoring presence is in
place.
Publicly acknowledge that the U.N.'s coordination of international
observers, as well as the presence of significant numbers of
electoral observers, should extend beyond the vote count to monitor
the post-election transition.
Impose sanctions from the election law on parties that coerce or
pressure villagers to join or pledge to vote for them, although how
free villagers will feel to raise complaints about coercion in the
current climate is a real question.
Meeting the above conditions will not necessarily guarantee a fair
election, but it might reduce the possibility of abuse and
intimidation. It will then be the responsibility of the
International Community to begin work immediately on a program that
will at least try to ensure that Somaliland moves in a direction
that will make future elections fairer.
Finally, we urge the Riyale Government, the political parties, the
Somaliland Commissioner, the house of Representatives,the House of
Elders to meet and come up another reasonable date of holding the
Presidential elections to save the country for further calamity,
confusion and destruction.
Dr. Mohamed Osman
Nur-Shacabi
California USA |
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