DEVELOPING NEWS OFFICIAL SOMALILAND ELECTIONS 2021 THREAD

[fais]

I think isn't a great opportunity to do so after the local elections happened with the 3 main parties taking part of it cuz opening for the creation of new parties would lead to parties formed in tribal lines I hope I'm wrong

No the political parties haven being open up 3 times before (as pr. the election law) - so we don't have the 3 same parties all the time - and the rules stats that of all registered new parties only the 3 with most votes and have gotten enough votes from all 6 regions will be a national party.

So it's not possible to make a clan party and still get votes from all 6 region to become one of the 3 parties that would become the national parties.

 

[Gantaal97]

No the political parties haven being open up 3 times before (as pr. the election law) - so we don't have the 3 same parties all the time - and the rules stats that of all registered new parties only 3 will be a national party if they have gotten enough votes from all 6 regions.

So it's not possible to make a clan party and still get votes from all 6 region to be come one of the 3 parties that would become the national parties.

Elections are over so why opened now when there's no elections except next years presidential elections ?

 

[fais]

Elections are over so why opened now when there's no elections except next years presidential elections ?

That's is the dilemma, I think the government would wait to after the presidential election..anything else is just crazy..

 

[angelplan]

 

[angelplan]

 

[BigBreak]

According to Cirro there will be THREE elections in 2022 which are the presidential, Guurtii (parliamentary Upper House) and political associations (top three becomes official parties for the next 10 years). How can a poor, unrecognised country hold THREE types of elections all within a single calendar year.

Personally I don't think any elections will happen in 2022 and the presidential election in particular may very well happen in either '23 or '24.

@The Crowe @Wir @Gucci mane @OffTheDome @Gadhwayne

 

[Dharbaaxo Jin]

According to Cirro there will be THREE elections in 2022 which are the presidential, Guurtii (parliamentary Upper House) and political associations (top three becomes official parties for the next 10 years). How can a poor, unrecognised country hold THREE types of elections all within a single calendar year.

Personally I don't think any elections will happen in 2022 and the presidential election in particular may very well happen in either '23 or '24.

@The Crowe @Wir @Gucci mane @OffTheDome @Gadhwayne

It is a very good question walaal, and I'd be happy to share my thoughts.

Firstly, I think your concerns about Somaliland being able to do it are absolutely valid and they are ones I share to a degree. However, I would say we have already a shown that we can deliver free and fair elections of an incredible level of quality given our relative lack of resources. That should give us some confidence that our country and people are capable of achieving things well beyond their means.
I think it has gone unnoticed how Somaliland has integrated a highly advanced technology like Iris recognition, relatively seamlessly into its election process. This is a technology that does not get utilized in most of the advanced Western countries.
This doesn't mean that I therefore think Somaliland is able to easily do what Cirro has suggested is the plan for 2022. It was just to remind us that Somaliland has made look easy something the majority of wealthier countries haven't yet even attempted.

As far as what I think is realistic for 2022. For me the least important of the three elections and one I would be comfortable with pushing back for at least a year, is the political associations election. The Presidential and Guurti elections, in that order, are much more important and should be the clear priorities.

I would prefer if we try to combine these two onto the same ballot, so that we could have those two elections at the same time. I think that would be very doable. Basically, in every Guurti district people would have to choose their choice for their Guurti representative, alongside their choice for President. Somaliland did something very similar very successfully last month, with the local council elections and Golaha Wakiilada elections on the same ballot. This is providing we limit the number of Guurti candidates per district, otherwise the ballot paper could get messy for counting and tabulating purposes.

Just my two cents.

 

[angelplan]

What is Guurti elections? what do they do once they are elected somehow?

 

[Dharbaaxo Jin]

What is Guurti elections? what do they do once they are elected somehow?

These are planned elections.

Until now, the Guurti has been an unelected body. The plan is to have the Guurti directly elected going forward. The most concrete proposal that I have heard would be to have 13 Guurti members for each of Somaliland's 6 regions. As the Somaliland constitution mandates that there should be 82 seats, the remaining 4 seats would be shared amongst Awdal, Sool and Sanaag to ensure more equal power-sharing.

The Guurti was absolutely fundamental in the founding of modern Somaliland and for steering it through its most turbulent times during the 90's.
Today, it has two main powers:

1. To consider bills proposed by the Golaha Wakiilada. They cannot raise their own bills, but they can make amendments to bills already raised and send them back to the Wakiilada for reconsideration.
2. They control the term limits of the President and Golaha Wakiilada. They have the right to extend term limits or to insist that elections be held.

 

[angelplan]

Recognition is coming... young reer awdal will make sure of it. New RENAISSANCE in the making

 

[Gadhwayne]

These are planned elections.

Until now, the Guurti has been an unelected body. The plan is to have the Guurti directly elected going forward. The most concrete proposal that I have heard would be to have 13 Guurti members for each of Somaliland's 6 regions. As the Somaliland constitution mandates that there should be 82 seats, the remaining 4 seats would be shared amongst Awdal, Sool and Sanaag to ensure more equal power-sharing.

The Guurti was absolutely fundamental in the founding of modern Somaliland and for steering it through its most turbulent times during the 90's.
Today, it has two main powers:

1. To consider bills proposed by the Golaha Wakiilada. They cannot raise their own bills, but they can make amendments to bills already raised and send them back to the Wakiilada for reconsideration.
2. They control the term limits of the President and Golaha Wakiilada. They have the right to extend term limits or to insist that elections be held.

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An alternative to the current presidential system with a bicameral legislature is to go back to the prime minister system used before July 1960 with FPTP elections. The minority Jabarti/Irir always feel that they have a shot at prime minister or another important post if they can find compliant Isaaq partners and any Isaaq prime minister would try to work with the 2 minority confederations to form a functioning government with control over the entire territory

 

[angelplan]

These are planned elections.

Until now, the Guurti has been an unelected body. The plan is to have the Guurti directly elected going forward. The most concrete proposal that I have heard would be to have 13 Guurti members for each of Somaliland's 6 regions. As the Somaliland constitution mandates that there should be 82 seats, the remaining 4 seats would be shared amongst Awdal, Sool and Sanaag to ensure more equal power-sharing.

The Guurti was absolutely fundamental in the founding of modern Somaliland and for steering it through its most turbulent times during the 90's.
Today, it has two main powers:

1. To consider bills proposed by the Golaha Wakiilada. They cannot raise their own bills, but they can make amendments to bills already raised and send them back to the Wakiilada for reconsideration.
2. They control the term limits of the President and Golaha Wakiilada. They have the right to extend term limits or to insist that elections be held.

82 Guurti members? that is way too much on the state money to take care of all them? there is already 82 parliamentary seats i guess. Do we need 82 more mouths to feed? why not just 6 Guurti for the 6 regions. Do they have a common place to meet? do they meet in parliament? how powerful are they in todays Somaliland? do they make meaningfull changes? I do understand though qabil wise they may have played a decisive role in the foundation of Somaliland.

 

[Dharbaaxo Jin]

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I get your point about risks associated with electing Guurti. Yes, there is a risk of a less influential elder being elected because his clan turn up more than another clan whose elder might be more influential. Here is what I'd say to that. Elections have consequences. People need to learn that you get the representation you deserve. If you want to sit out an election like a spoiled brat, they'll realized they're only cutting off their nose to spite their own face.
My other point is that the current Guurti is not exactly effective, even with clans having the ability to select their own Guurti. So those more influential Guurti are not exactly making a difference as things stand now.

An alternative to the current presidential system with a bicameral legislature is to go back to the prime minister system used before July 1960 with FPTP elections. The minority Jabarti/Irir always feel that they have a shot at prime minister or another important post if they can find compliant Isaaq partners and any Isaaq prime minister would try to work with the 2 minority confederations to form a functioning government with control over the entire territory

In theory, your alternative could work. The major problem is that it is a radical departure from what the current system and constitution. Such a radical overhaul would make sense if we had a broken system that doesn't work at all. I don't believe that to be the reality. I think we have a functioning government and parliamentary system that needs major work. Step 1 of that I think is to ensure timely elections to give the public confidence in their ability to influence government and parliament. Last months elections were a big step forward in that department. Step 2 should be the reformation of the Guurti as we've discussed here. The rest are all more long-term issues that I think should only be addressed when 1 and 2 have been realized.

 

[angelplan]

The most concrete proposal that I have heard would be to have 13 Guurti members for each of Somaliland's 6 regions. As the Somaliland constitution mandates that there should be 82 seats, the remaining 4 seats would be shared amongst Awdal, Sool and Sanaag to ensure more equal power-sharing.

I am not a fan of this proposal. True equal power sharing will not come from this type of solution. In my honest opinion Muse Bihi has the chance to go down in history as the best president of Somaliland and turn the tide around for the better for Somaliland if he truly gives Samaroons real sami qaybsi. I am expecting Muse Bihi to leave presidency in a good will gesture toward the samaroons.

Here is the best solution of mine for Somaliland to immediately turn the tide around and will get formal and global recognition instantly: Since Isaaq worked hard and fought hard to liberate the land they should be rewarded for presidency for lifetime and Samaroons should get Prime minister for lifetime and Dblock President of parliament for lifetime.

When it comes to parliament though, here is where Isaaq have to face the real truth and sacrifice their ego for the sake of the nation. Isaaq are the majority and should get automatically 50% of the parliament and not more of the cake. Remaining 50% of parliament seats should be divided equally 25% samaroon and 25% Dblock. I imagine this will be the perfect Somaliland, as all clans living within are represented equally. In that perfect Somaliland, there is no reason not be recognized internationally because the system is fair and equal. But today the Isaaq have like 62 seats out of 82 (that is like 75%+ of the cake lol) The isaaq are eating it all alone. That is very unfair in my honest opinion and ruins the image of Somaliland not being a single clan project.

But with patience and time, Inchallah I hope Somaliland will sort itself out in a positive light for all parties included. We need a win win solution for everyone.

 

[Calaf]

Hate or Love Somaliland, believe in statehood or not, one thing they truly need to be praised for is their elections. Especially the biometric ID, a leaf we need to take from them for our greater good. Somali Government needs to truly look at this route. Add AI + Major Cameras, and we killed multiple birds with 1 stone, as you can eliminate AS using this national ID system.

Even Ethiopia don't implement it to the level of SL.

Somaliland Elections Disrupt al-Shabaab’s Regional Expansion

On May 31, the independent, but unrecognized, Republic of Somaliland held parliamentary and local district elections. These internationally observed elections, which saw a high turnout of 1.1 million registered voters in Somaliland, were peaceful and transparent (Africa News, May 31). [1] The...

jamestown.org

 

[Dharbaaxo Jin]

82 Guurti members? that is way too much on the state money to take care of all them? there is already 82 parliamentary seats i guess. Do we need 82 more mouths to feed? why not just 6 Guurti for the 6 regions. Do they have a common place to meet? do they meet in parliament? how powerful are they in todays Somaliland? do they make meaningful changes? I do understand though qabil wise they may have played a decisive role in the foundation of Somaliland.

I totally get where you are coming from but I also understand why they decided on such relatively number. It is quite a tricky balance to strike.

I believe that the reason 82 was the number settled on, was that the Guurti is supposed to ensure all clans, and major Sub-clans, are represented in Parliament. Let's use my native Saaxil as an example. The Ciise Muuse are the majority in the state but you also have subclans of Sacad Muuse, Habar Jeclo & Habar Yoonis that live there. It wouldn't be fair to say to the Habar Jeclo that live in Saaxil that they have representatives from Sool, Sanaag or Togdheer in the Guurti.
I'm not justifying it, just clarifying the rationale as I understand it.

Going forward I don't know that it makes sense to have such a large number anymore. I fully understand that clans will continue to be a central part of the Somali culture and Somali politics for the foreseeable future. However, I think any opportunity we can take to chip away at it and strip clannism of its power we should. And I think this upcoming Guurti reformation would be an opportunity for that. If I understand it correctly, I think your proposal of 6 representatives for each of the 6 regions i.e. 36 in total, would be a good compromise of where we want to get to, a less clan-based society, and yet still give most clans the ability to ensure they're represented in the Guurti.

 

[Sa7rawy]

Kudos for a peaceful election!

And I heard there was a Gahayle member of parliament elected in Sanaag; any info on name and political party?

 

[Gantaal97]

Kulmiye MPs from awdal demanding the the 1st deputy speaker position for "Tribal" reasons

Sad that kulmiye MPs from frontier communities are resorting to tribalism to get the higher posts in parliament first it was kulmiye harti MPs and now reer awdal kulmiye MPs diffucult days ahead of somaliland

 

[ZodiaK]

The future looks bright.

Ceel Afweyn Mayor



Burco Mayor

 

[Thegoodshepherd]

Let us return to the topic of the thread. Enough derailment.

Has a district level breakdown of votes been released yet?