Culprits of Current Political Impasse in Somaliland

As of late, there is a tension in the hearts of Somaliland people throughout the country concerning a looming political chaos and civil defiance given the rhetoric of both the opposition and the ruling politicians on launching the enrollment of new political associations as well as the forthcoming presidential election.

Current Somaliland populace is dominatingly youthful in age wise and can undoubtedly be misled with inaccurate information deliberately for obvious reason to root for one of the two rival political camps in Somaliland.

Likewise, the blind following of clan affiliations being abused in Somaliland society made such willful disinformation to appear to be a reality.

Another component adding legitimacy to the acceptance of fear-mongering discourses emerging from both aisles of political spectrum is the absence of nonpartisan forums that can reveal the insights into the main problems in conflict and competent media outlets that can question the claims of each camp instead of propagating them.

Indeed, even the intellectuals of Somaliland nation both in the country and in the Diaspora have stayed silent about this negative polarization of electorates that can scar the standing of Somaliland as a viable democracy ruled by a constitution rather than the wishes of politicians.

Current political contention developing in the country before our own eyes can be portrayed as half-unfilled and half-full cup situation. The opposition camp is looking at the full half of the cup while the government and its party are keeping an eye on the unfilled portion of the cup

The rhetoric of the government and its party is essentially that “the presidential election will happen on time, and the time of registration for political associations have shown up” without giving further details on how it is possible to complete these two competing tasks.

Then again, the opposition parties are fixated on holding the presidential election while failing to discuss the tenure of current political parties going to lapse in December of 2022,

Moreover, another unfortunate reality adding fuel to the political upheaval between the government and the opposition is the disturbing involvement of the House of Representatives in a way complicating the issues in disagreement, instead of finding a common ground for the camps in dispute.

For example, the heated argument that prompted the fist fighting in the House of Representatives came about when the Committee for Registration of Political Associations was presented to the House for approval. Undertaking such a business amounts to putting the cart before the horse. For the House Representatives, in the absence of mutually acceptable solution to all parties in dispute, proceeding to debate over the confirmation of the committee was just an escalation of the tension. They should have been instrumental in resolving and finding a solution instead.

Somaliland law plainly defines the timing of presidential election and the enlistment of new political associations, the responsibilities of the House of Representatives, and the powers of the Constitutional Court.

No doubts and ambiguity exist that the next presidential election is due on Nov 13, 2022 and the tenure of current political parties comes to an end on December 26, 2026 – two events that are only 44 days apart from each other.

As law No. 14-2021 stands presently after its amendments and update in 2021, it specifies that a direct independent election must be held among the new political associations and current political parties to choose the top 3 national political parties , which will acquire legitimacy over the next 10 years.

It additionally points out that the eligible contenders for the presidency can only be nominated by three political parties that have been licensed as national political parties – hence, Wadani, Ucid, and Kulmiye are the only ones that can name presidential candidates.

The responsibility for creating this political turmoil squarely rests its entirety with the government, the opposition parties, and the House of Representatives who put their special interests ahead of the national interest of Somaliland Republic. The people of Somaliland need to be clear about this.

This newly born country – with its delicate economy still suffering from the recent devastation of the “Waaheen Market Fire” assessed to be in the neighborhood of US$2 billion losses and simultaneously experiencing serious droughts in many regions of the nation – can’t stand to hold two elections that are just 44 days separated from one another.

The solution is on the negotiating table and postponing these elections by one year or so will be a major blow to the democratization process of Somaliland. Learning from recent experience, the best way out of this political mayhem is conducting a combined elections that can be held either on November 13, 2022 or December 26, 2022 whichever is agreed upon, with the House of Representatives approving the consensus to legalize it.