Hargeisa, 14/04/2003 (SA)- Somalilanders go to the polls on Monday in their first presidential elections since briefly gaining independence from Britain 43 years ago.
President Dahir Riyale Kahin of the ruling UDUB party is contesting the race against Ahmed Mohamed Silayo of the Kulmiye Party and Faisal Ali Warabe, who gave up his Finnish nationality and returned to his homeland after a 12 year absence to run for the UCID Party.
Kahin, who was vice-president, assumed the presidency after the death last May of president Mohamed Egal who died of kidney failure in a South African hospital.
Egal was nominated to the presidency by the country's council of elders in 1993, two years after Somaliland unilaterally ended its 31-year union with Somalia, which had been forged after a few days of independence in 1960.
The country remains unrecognised by the international community and only neighbouring Ethiopia has a diplomatic presence in this country at the top of the horn of Africa.
No census has been held in this country of between two and three million people and there is no voters' roll.
Municipal elections last December drew 440 000 people to the polls.
However, more than a million people voted in a 2001 referendum on the country's new constitution.
Thirty two international observers from 14 countries have arrived here to scrutinise the process. More than half of these observers are from South Africa, which currently chairs the African Union.
All three candidates have expressed their confidence that the voting will be peaceful.
The minimum voting age is 16. Because Somalilanders have no physical form of identity, voters will have to verified by elders.
The seven-person Independent Election Commission has identified 900 polling stations across the country that will be open between 06:00 and 18:00.
German technical adviser Manfred Gers said on Sunday night that problems getting election material to the eastern region would mean that 29 stations in Sool and five stations in Sanaag would not be opening on time.
Voters will have the little finger on their right hands dyed with an indelible ink to prevent double voting.
Votes will be counted at the polling booths.
All presidential candidates oppose the idea of rejoining Somalia proper. - Sapa-AFP
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