Electoral Commission’s Blunder

The decision of the Somaliland Electoral Commission to postpone the Presidential elections from January 23 to March 30, 2003 has caught much of the country by surprise. With the incumbent government’s term in office due to expire by Feb 23, 2003, the NEC’s decision has drawn wide criticism as an unrealistic and unwarranted move that could unnecessarily steer the country into a constitutional crisis. The NEC’s explanation that the postponement was due to the need for more time to put everything in place before the election, has not been convincing, at least from the technical point of view.

As already cited in its explanatory remarks, the only element the Commission would need to procure from abroad is an adequate supply of printed ballot papers. Nobody knows why the NEC wanted to order the ballot papers from India against a waiting period of 45 days when it could have obtained a much speedier delivery offer, had the material been printed at Jeddah, as the registration cards for the last month’s local elections have been, or even in the more accessible Dubai.

In the face of the poor performance shown by polls officials in the recent local election, the NEC’s argument that this time it ought to give training to its staff is quite valid. However, the Commission’s assertion that such an activity would take several weeks is highly disputable. What is also untenable is the NEC’s claim that it had to put off the election to 30th of March as a sort of meeting at half way the demand by the two opposition parties [KULMIYE and UCID] to have the election postponed to May. Just because the NEC has been frequently accused in the past of appeasing the government’s UDUB party, doesn’t mean that it would be excused if it yielded to demands made by the opposition for the sake of gaining advantage in the election campaign.

Whatever were the reasons that prompted the NEC to delay the Presidential election, the decision has apparently been reached under the assumption that the House of Elders would pave the way by voting for extending this Administration’s tenure beyond the Feb 23rd deadline. But with the majority of the House of Elders strongly inclined against an extension, perhaps it would be wiser to amend the electoral laws themselves by removing the clause requiring the presidential election be held at least one month ahead of the deadline for the incumbent government to remain in office. In this way we could have an election anytime before Feb 23, 2003.

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