Hargeysa, Somaliland, March 8, 2008 (SL Times) – The Somaliland National Election Commission has invited bidders to submit offers for the supply of voter registration equipment and material that will include, among other things, computerized central database, servers, electronic registration kits, indelible ink and printing service.

The bidding will be closed on April 5, 2008 and the registration of voters is expected to begin later in the same month. It is mandatory under the electoral law that voters are registered prior to Somaliland’s forthcoming municipal elections which are scheduled to be held in July this year.

According to the NEC, the voter registration operation will last for 45 days. Each of Somaliland’s 6 regions has been allocated a period of 5 days to complete the registration of its voters. The remaining 15 days will be reserved for coping with any contingency.

Somaliland has yet to undergo a proper population census but it is estimated to have about 3.5 million people. However in the light of the voting results of the last 3 elections, almost 45 percent of the country’s inhabitants live in the Hargeysa region.

Presidential elections have been slated for August 2008, however Somaliland’s incumbent President Dahir Rayale Kahin has since early 2007 been subverting the electoral process for the purpose of delaying the elections.

Mr. Kahin was first elected as president on April 2003 and now it is a forgone conclusion that he will be his UDUB party’s candidate in the next presidential election. But observers note that since the president’s popularity has declined, he is trying to buy time in the hope that his support might surge.

The president’s term is supposed to expire on April 13, 2008. But he is most likely to ask the Guurti (upper house of parliament) to extend his tenure in office up to August. Last year, the executive-controlled Guurti passed a resolution that extended the life of the existing local councils until July this year. Although the main opposition party KULMIYE agreed to the extension, the move was described as unconstitutional by many independent observers.

Source: Somaliland Times