Somaliland’s Upper House appoints team to review poll dates as pressure mounts over delay

Somaliland Upper House has appointed a 21 member team to review and recommend election timelines following the Supreme Court’s ruling last week dismissing the decision by the government January to extend electoral date by six months.

The House of the Elders speaker Suleiman Mohamoud Aden said the members drawn from the various House committees will have the powers to make final recommendation on whether to stick with the six months or make any necessary amends.

The team has 28 hours to submit its findings to the House, the Speaker said.

Somaliland Supreme Court last week faulted the Ahmed Silanyo led government for what it termed as unlawful resolution. It called on the House of Elders (Upper House) to review the matter and reach a binding decision anchored in law.

President Ahmed Silanyo jointly with political parties from both divide and the National Electoral Commission announced January a six months electoral delay pushing the Presidential vote to October 10 from March 28 this year.

Parliamentary elections were also put off to October 10, 2018 to coincide with local elections effectively sending Parliament into a 13 year period with no elections. The International Community has upped its pressure on Somaliland to rescind the decision noting the decision to postpone the elections on grounds of need to address the ongoing drought ‘will inevitably harm public and international confidence in Somaliland’s democratisation process’.

Somaliland Supreme Court in its 18 August 2015 ruled against electoral delays. The Presidential election was slated for 2015.