By Mohamed Xariirad ‎

The people of Somaliland, regardless of the naysayer apprehension that there would be no fair and free election in ‎this internationally isolated infant nation has demonstrated a will of steel rooted on their determination to reclaim ‎their independence from the quagmire in Somalia proper. They put their best foot forward to elect newly minted ‎parliament soon to be sworn in. Now, that it is in place, the whole nation is eagerly expecting it to deliver the ‎promised recognition and prosperity, not withstanding their party colors and tribal affiliation. ‎

The government of Somaliland spearheaded by its cool headed president, Honorable Dahir Rayale Kahin as he ‎promised to his people after he assumed the office pursued this long and tough democratization process with ‎immense vigor. To the amazement of many he did not disappoint and the parliament election of Somaliland has ‎just occurred out there, the world to see it, to complete the democratization circle. Even though it is not perfect, ‎yet this endeavor sets a good example of how an indigenous peace process can set the wheels of democracy ‎moving in the right direction. It helps the young and the elderly to contribute to their country’s political direction ‎through the ballot box (sack in this case). ‎

This exercise was not painless. There were many pumps on the road leading to it. However, it was achieved on the ‎visionary leadership of the president, hard work of his cabinet, nonpartisan election commission, support of the ‎opposition party leaders and the never flailing will of the general public. My hat is off to you all, you made it ‎possible! Cool heads have prevailed over the skeptical elements among us at the moment of need; differences ‎were solved on the table rather than in the battle field and all political leaders have shown their maturity at ‎sometime or the other.

Having said that let me express my humble opinion about how the political parties and their leadership faired ‎during the election campaign. Please, be advised that during the campaign electability criteria was not pegged on ‎the candidate’s or party’s political agenda or plan but on some other issues such as: a) candidate’s clan base or ‎lineage b) loyalty to the leader or party c) individual economic power (Khat) d) personality e) education and past ‎performance… etc. To say the least the following were traits of the parties and their leaders during the campaign: ‎

As we are all aware of UDUB is the party in power in Somaliland. The president of the nation is also the leader of ‎the party and it has had a deep rooted mass following among the people in all regions of Somaliland. Despite, its ‎popularity the party did not do well in the election as was expected due to different reasons. To name a few of its ‎short comings: Its campaign managers might have rested heavily on their past glory or they badly underestimated ‎the tenacity, determination and cunningness of the opposition leaders. Additionally, the president did not show the ‎energy required during the campaign in order to generate some momentum for his party. Similarly, the vice ‎president created a faux pas of his own in Borama when he claimed, “it is a sin to get opposition members ‎elected in Sahil and Awdal regions”. This might have cost his party a few seats in both those regions and ‎elsewhere. On the top of all some cabinet ministers did not endear themselves to the electorate and there were ‎alleged mismanagement in the preliminary candidate screening process that annoyed some of the traditionally ‎loyal clans. ‎

KULMIYE was the most active political party in the campaign. Ahmed Sillanyo made a whirlwind tour in all the ‎eastern, southern and central regions urging the population in those areas to elect his party members to the new ‎assembly. In my view, though Ahmed’s appeal might have paid off in some regions, but his right wing deputies ‎and the so called militant media undermined his efforts in some of the regions; their conspiracy theories did not ‎bear any dividends for his party in those regions where the people felt threatened. On the other hand, it is still ‎unknown how many extra seats the party picked up in the capital region. Nevertheless, Ahmed Sillanyo has shown ‎signs of elder statesmanship by personally avoiding the mudsling, but he never made any efforts to restrain his ‎deputies and his xenophobic mouth pieces at least in public. One can only wonder why a national party would ‎endorse an act of alienation against certain region or group of people. What it appears at the outset is it did not ‎matter as long as he was not personally doing it, but it sounds to be a dereliction of his responsibility to all the ‎Somalilanders. ‎

Faisal Ali Warabe, the UCID party leader toured almost all the regions of Somaliland to present his party’s case to ‎the electorate. His party has made successful inroads in previously difficult regions and it emerged as serious ‎contender, but its problems were two pronged. First, many of his candidates were either returning expatriates who ‎were not familiar with the nuts and bolts of Somaliland politics or third string clan nominees who did not have ‎good political weight. Secondly, Faisal Ali during the election appeared to have abandoned his left centre political ‎ideology in favor of far right stand which was characterized by vengeful personal attacks on the president and ‎partisan rhetoric. ‎

Faisal also put his foot in his mouth in number of occasions. For instance, when the hoax ballot papers were ‎caught at Hargeisa Airport, he went on the air immediately and he called for the president’s blood (where else ‎would you call for the head of state’s blood and you get away with it?! It only happens in Somaliland!), however ‎what he was not aware of was that there were no fake ballot papers to begin with and amazingly enough the ‎accused was one of his own party members. That clearly, exposed his party’s lack of coordination. To top it all, on ‎the ballot day his party was so disarrayed to the level, they could not send their representatives to some polling ‎regions. ‎

In conclusion our democratic system has its own limitations, but it is a good start on which we can build on. It ‎needs a strong legislation in areas of land dispute; finance; better election code of conduct; media code of ‎conduct that makes it responsible for what it publishes; charter of rights and freedoms that protects all of us ‎equally regardless of our region of origin and clan affiliation; power sharing laws in the three levels of governance ‎‎(central, regional and municipal). All these and more are expected from the new assembly! ‎
After the dust settles, the winner of this election is the people of Somaliland. They expressed their desire to be ‎governed by the rule of law through their own elected president and parliament. As was clear in this election ‎people forgive but they never forget and I can pet you their expectation is really very high. May Allah be on the side ‎of the new parliamentarians and bestow on them the wisdom to work for those who sent them to Hargeisa. ‎

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