Hargeysa, Somaliland, December 1, 2007 (SL Times) – The upper house of [elders] parliament’s Internal Affairs select committee announced Tuesday in parliament that the recent amendments made to the ‘Presidential and Local-government Election Bill’ by the lower house of representatives was “unconstitutional”.

A new draft law of the ‘Presidential & Local Councils Elections (Amendment) Bill 2007’ was endorsed in a clear majority vote by the lower house of representatives in August 2007. The lower house’s amended bill called for drastic changes made to the voting system. It advocated for the introduction of quotas for women and minority groups in local authority assemblies and proposed new voter registration criteria. The bill passed by the lower house was submitted for the upper house of elders’ endorsement and house approval back in August.

Ahmed Musa   Obsiye, the Chair of the Upper House Internal Affairs Select-Committee, told Tuesday’s house session that the committee, having studied the draft of the amendments made to the election law bill and having consulted the legal basis of these amendments, advises the house, “that this bill is not worthy of being presented to the house for debate.”

Obsiye went on to say: “the amendments in the bill made by the lower house are totally unconstitutional and uncalled for.” The chair of the select-committee pointed out to numerous articles in the amended bill and articles in the constitution which he said, “were contravening articles of the constitution.”

The Chairman of the Select-Committee, Mr Obsiye, requested the house to cancel the session ‘chamber’ debate over the bill and recommended that the house should appoint a special commission which will look into the most appropriate options available for the house to take before going into a chamber debate over the bill.

The Deputy Speaker of the Upper House, Sheikh Ahmed Nuh, who was presiding over the house session appointed fifteen house members to look into the most appropriate options available for the house in relation to the bill. Said Jama Ali, the Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Elders was nominated as the head of the 15 member special house commission.

The lower house of Somaliland parliament, when making changes to the election bill in August faced tremendous opposition from government backed MPs. In particular, the government opposed articles relating to the introduction of a quota system for women and minority clans in the municipality elections and the new system of voting where candidates for the local council seats are short listed by the political parties selecting candidates eligible for election [closed constest], but by the direct vote of the people [open contest].

Source: Somaliland Times