Somaliland

The International Republican Institute (IRI) has been active in Somaliland since the fall of 2002, when the institute conducted a comprehensive political assessment. The institute subsequently began program activities aimed at supporting the young democracy. Since that time, IRI has conducted a number of trainings in advance of the April 2003 presidential election, and in preparation for parliamentary elections, held in September 2005. Additionally, the institute conducted a staff assessment of the September 29, 2005 parliamentary elections and produced a report on its findings.

Political Party Development

IRI hosted trainings on empowering political parties in advance of the presidential election held in April 2003. Following the election, IRI hosted a roundtable to discuss post-election issues in Somaliland with panelists Lange Schermerhorn, former U.S. Ambassador to Djibouti and David Shinn, former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, as well as John Prendergast, Co-director of the Africa Program at the International Crisis Group.

In late January 2004, IRI conducted a political party training seminar in Hargeisa on campaign planning, fundraising and budgeting. In partnership with the Somaliland Journalists' Association (SOLJA), IRI trained Somaliland's political parties, civil society members and journalists on media communications. Facilitated by two Kenyan trainers, the workshop focused on the role and responsibilities of the media in a democracy, message development for political parties, effective communication between the parties and the media, and media ethics.

Preparing Parties for Elections

With the announcement that Somaliland would hold parliamentary elections in early 2005, IRI began a new program aimed at preparing political parties to compete fairly and effectively in democratic elections. The program began with intensive training and individual consultations with leading members of Somaliland's three parties on campaign planning and management.

After the election was delayed to September 2005, the institute launched a program with the National Campaign Committees (NCC) and Regional Campaign Committees (RCC) of the three parties. These committees were the organs chiefly responsible for designing and executing the parties' nationwide parliamentary election campaigns. In June 2005, IRI conducted a training session for members from the three parties' NCCs, as well as civil society members engaged in voter education projects.

In the final months of the campaigns, IRI organized a series of three-day campaign workshops for members of the RCCs of Somaliland's three political parties. The three workshops were conducted in Hargeisa and Burao, Somaliland's two largest cities. The objective of these seminars was to prepare the RCCs for Somaliland's first parliamentary elections and to ensure that these elections would be carried out in an open and transparent manner. The training topics included organizing election campaigns, campaign communication skills and fundraising. Also covered in the workshops was the Political Parties Code of Conduct, a document jointly drafted by the three parties and the NEC to complement the electoral law.

In the two weeks before Somaliland's September 29, 2005 parliamentary elections, IRI, in collaboration with the War-Torn Societies Project (WSP), sponsored and helped to organize party poll-watcher trainings in which nearly 6,000 party agents were prepared to execute their duties on Election Day. This training was conducted at a number of universities across Somaliland.

Election Assessment Activities

For Election Day, IRI sent a seven-member election assessment team to observe voting in four of Somaliland's six electoral regions. The team managed to visit roughly 10 percent of all polling stations in Somaliland, and issued a comprehensive report on the conduct of the elections.

IRI hopes to continue to support the democratization process through future program activities in Somaliland, to include media campaigning, coalition building, forming a loyal opposition in the post-electoral context, continued outreach and mobilization at the grassroots level, maintenance of party activity, and civic education.

Known as the Somaliland Protectorate during almost 80 years of British rule, the Republic of Somaliland gained independence from Britain on June 26, 1960. On July 1, 1960, it joined the former Italian Somalia to form the Somali Republic. Civil war broke out in the 1980s, which led eventually to the collapse of the Somali Republic. In 1991, the people of Somaliland held a congress, during which it decided to withdraw from the union with Somalia and to reinstate Somaliland's sovereignty.

This region in northwest Somalia has made significant progress since officially declaring its independence. Although no countries officially recognize Somaliland as an independent state, determined Somalilanders have not been deterred from acting the part. In addition to ridding their region of the violent conflict that continues to plague their former countrymen to the south, they also boast a nascent democratic system of governance.

After Somaliland broke away from the Somalia in the early 1990s, conflicts flared between rival clans and sub-clans in this fledgling nation. A national conference held by the Council of Elders (Guurti) in October 1992 selected Muhammad Ibrahim Egal to be president. Egal would remain in power until his death in May 2002. In late 1996 to February 1997, Somaliland leaders held another conference in Hargeisa. With the most of the fighting over, Guurti members laid the groundwork for a national constitution, appointed Egal to another five-year term, and chose Dahir Rayale Kahin as Vice President.

Since the 1996 conference, a tenuous peace has held. In May 2001, Somaliland held a national referendum in which 97 percent of voters approved the constitution that had been adopted by the government in 1997. This first nationwide election within Somaliland provided implicit support for the territory's independence from the rest of Somalia.

The government postponed the previously scheduled 2002 presidential, legislative, and local elections for one year to allow more time for preparation. When, following this controversial decision, President Egal passed away unexpectedly in May 2002, many observers speculated that Somaliland would crumble without his guidance. However, Vice President Rayale was sworn in and has assured citizens that he will follow in Egal's footsteps, promoting recognition for Somaliland and holding elections in the coming year.

Political parties were only introduced in August 2000 with the passage of new political party legislation. This legislation specifies that only the three political organizations that received the most votes in local government elections held in December 2002 would be allowed to field candidates in any and all future elections. The three parties that achieved this were the Union of Democrats (UDUB), the government party; Kulmiye, led by Ahmed Muhammed; and the Party of Justice and Welfare (UCID), headed by Faisal Ali. The law stipulated that these parties would be entitled to equal use of the media and free expression of their political views; they would also be able to nominate individuals to stand for elections and register complaints about the commission with local courts.

The 2002 and 2003 elections resulted in a government of Somaliland that, in the words of one opposition leader, "walked with two different shoes." The municipal governments and the presidency had been chosen by the people in elections that were judged to be mostly free and fair. However, even though the two opposition parties had garnered nearly 60 percent of the vote in the presidential elections, they were awarded no posts in the cabinet, and because the parliament remained unelected and based on clan representation, these parties had no platform in the legislature. At the national level, Somaliland remained a de facto one-party state, albeit one with democratic features.

After pushing back the election date twice, Somaliland's first parliamentary election finally took place on September 29, 2005. A large group of international observers from more than a dozen countries were present to view the elections. Among observers there was near-unanimity that the election, despite some minor flaws and irregularities, had been carried out with great skill and dedication, and reflected the will of Somaliland's people.

When the results became public, it was evident that the ruling UDUB party, while retaining a plurality of seats in Somaliland's first democratically elected parliament, had fallen short of an outright majority. Within weeks of the election, Somaliland's two opposition parties formed a parliamentary coalition, making Somaliland a virtually unique case within Africa: a government with a president from one party and a parliament dominated by the opposition. Whether this arrangement will serve Somaliland remains to be seen, but immediately after the new parliament was inaugurated, it moved boldly to increase checks on the extensive powers enjoyed by the executive and to assert its own independence. Despite all its successes, Somaliland still faces the challenge of maintaining stability while consolidating its democratic gains in a highly competitive political environment and with an unresolved international status.

Political Overview

Head of Government: President H.E. Dahir Riyale Kahin, Union of Democrats

Type of Government: presidential-parliamentary democracy

Suffrage: universal, age 18

Elections Calendar: municipal, December 16, 2002; presidential, April 19, 2003; parliamentary, September 29, 2005, municipal, December 2007

Program Overview

Focus of Program: political party empowerment

Funding Source: United States Agency for International Development