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Opening the space to new political entrants (outside of the three official political parties –
Kulmiye, UDUB and UCID) grew to become a priority issue, and was advanced vocally by
many civil society groups, in addition to being included in Kulmiye’s 2010 presidential
campaign platform. President Silanyo created a committee in 2011
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made up of political
parties, intellectuals, civil society and traditional and religious leaders to provide
recommendations. Among other things, the committee recommended that new political
associations be allowed to register and compete in the subsequent local council elections. In
2011, Somaliland’s electoral laws were correspondingly amended, namely through the passage
of the
Regulation of Political Associations and Parties Law
No. 14/2011,
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allowing new
political associations to be formed to challenge the three traditional parties in local council
elections and therefore compete to be one of the three approved parties going forward.
After the change in electoral laws, 15 political associations applied to compete in local council
elections, but nine were disqualified by the Registration of Political Associations and Approval
of Political Parties Committee for failing to meet necessary legal requirements. The
Registration of Political Associations and Approval of Political Parties Committee
disqualification of the nine associations was criticized by the groups as being non-transparent.
In explaining its decision, the committee stated that each of the disqualified groups failed to
open offices in all regions of Somaliland and failed to provide evidence that they had at least
1,000 members in each region.
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Thus, a total of six new groups were formally accredited as political associations in time to
compete in the 2012 local council elections: Waddani– a faction that split from UCID to form
its own association – Xaqsoor, Dalsan, Rays, Ummada and Nasiye (Nasiye however, withdrew
from the elections prior to submitting a candidate list). After its failure to retain the presidency
and other internecine conflict, UDUB split into competing factions and decided not to
participate in the 2012 local council elections. As a result, local council elections were
contested by the existing UCID and Kulmiye parties, and five new political associations:
Umadda, Dalsan, Rays, Waddani and Xaqsoor.
In the 2012 local council elections, Kulmiye and UCID received the first and third most votes,
respectively, thereby retaining their status as national parties; Kulmiye won approximately 30
percent of the vote, and UCID approximately 13 percent. Political association Waddani
received the second-most votes, with approximately 20 percent of the total, thereby becoming
the third, official national party. These three will be the only official national parties for the
next ten years, until their terms expire and local council elections determine the political parties
for the subsequent term.
It is to be noted that while these three parties are the only official parties, parliamentary
elections have yet to be held under the new political framework, and the parliament includes
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Reflections and Lessons of Somaliland's Two Decades of Sustained Peace, Statebuilding and Democratization
.
Publication. Vol. 2. Hargeisa: SORADI, 2012. Print, p. 44.
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The Regulation of Political Associations and Parties Law was passed by the House of Representatives on July
31, 2011, and the House of Elders on August 13, 2011. President signed it on August 20, 2011, and its subsequent
amendments were signed by the president on December 13, 2011.
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The nine associations were disqualified due to failures in meeting the office per region, and/or 1,000 delegates
per region, requirements.
