Somaliland presidential campaign in high gear while some tribal elders advocate for clan voting

Somaliland presidential campaign is gearing up in major towns in the Somali breakaway region in an election that is expected to take place in the middle of next month and the local elders are advocating for votes to be cast on tribal lines.

It is the fourth day into the presidential campaign and the contenders trooped to Las Anod town where Muse Bihi Abdi of the ruling party Kulmiye and Abdirahman Mohamed Iro who heads the biggest opposition party Wadani met with their supporters on two different days in the town.

Las Anod is a strong hold of the ruling part and other major towns including Hargeysa, Borama, Burao, Erigabo and Berbera.

Kulmiye party took the town yesterday with huge supporters coming out and waving party flags and distributed political manifesto brochures to their supporters which was absent in earlier presidential campaigns which gave birth to special new enthusiasm to their campaign.

Opposition UCID party led by Engineer Fesal Ali Waraabe had few supporters compared to the ones that came out for other parties.

On the other hand, the presidential race has a taken a new twist and unprecedented move not seen in the history of Somaliland presidential campaigns where tribal elders are promoting candidates on tribal lines in areas like Sool and Awdal regions in order to solicit support for them.

No major confrontations or causalities have been sighted during the campaign period of the last 2 days in Las Anod town though one death was reported through a car accident that took place in the town.

Goobjoog News