No woman elected as opposition Waddani leads parliamentary race

GOOBJOOG NEWS|SOMALILAND: NO SINGLE WOMAN was elected as MP in the just-concluded parliamentary elections in Somaliland as the opposition gives the ruling party Kulmiye a good run for its money.

According to provisional results, all the 82 seats in the Lower House went to men despite 13 women contesting in the race. The results also highlight a surprise for Kulmiye party as the opposition scoop majority seats combined.

Waddani party led by Abdirahman Irro secured 31 seats while Kulmiye came second with 30 seats followed by UCID with 21 seats. Somaliland law allows only three political parties. Waddani got the highest number of seats-7 in Togdheer easing off competition from Kulmiye and UCID both of which got 4 seats.

The parliamentary results just like the district council outcome indicate a close shave among the three political parties. For example, in Sool, Sanag and Sahil there was a difference of one seat among the three parties.

Kulmiye led with eight seats in Maroodijeh which encompasses the capital Hargeisa followed closely by Waddani with seven while Faysal Warabe’s UCID came third with five seats.

In terms of distribution of seats, Kulmiye carried the day in Sool, Sahil and Maroodijeh while Waddani took Togdheer and Sanaag and the two shared equal seats in Awdal.

Out of the 1.1 million voters who registered, provisional results indicate that slightly over half, 695, 915 voters only cast their vote for parliamentary elections.

Barkhad Batuun, who campaigned atop an excavator got 200,000 votes, the highest any contestant got in the race.