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these participants, needs to speak directly to citizens. Ideas for the party to increase its
communication included: using independent websites based outside of Somaliland, talking
directly to citizens, utilizing posters in the cities and other basic outreach tools such as t-shirts
and slogans.
A high ranking official from one of the parties noted that it is important for citizens to have
regular access to political parties in between elections, and vice versa, “[Communication with
citizens] is the most important element because sometime people complain about us that we
only reach them only at elections time, instead of reaching them any other time. So it’s
important to reinforce the relationship with the community in periods where there are no
elections." Two political parties ranked as medium priority the development of regional offices
to increase citizen access to and communication with the parties. However, the lack of
resources was quick to be cited as a mitigating factor.
Research Capacity
One party ranked as high and another ranked as low the need for parties to have access to, or
conduct, scientific research on citizen priorities to aid in platform development. Both parties
cited the need for public opinion polling to know their level of popular support and to identify
citizen priorities, and to train party members on research skills. Lack of resources and access to
expertise was a disenabling factor.
Enabling Environment – Medium Priority
Enabling environment received a high priority, medium priority and low priority from the three
political parties, which places it overall as third ranked and as a medium priority category.
Culture and Tradition
Culture and tradition were the topics that engendered the largest debates under the enabling
environment category, with clanism and clan influence among the most significant challenges.
All parties prioritized highly the reduction of clan influence and clanism in Somaliland politics,
while also noting the strength of clanism in Somaliland society is undergirded by the poor
economic situation and that people depend on their clans for support.
Dependence on clans for support extends to the political parties as well. One party – while
discussing the negative aspects of clanism – also discussed how it has been able to use clans to
its advantage, for example to finance campaigns, appeal to and mobilize voters based on
traditional allegiances, etc. Of the 2002 and 2005 campaigns, one author noted:
Their reliance on clans for finances and votes meant that most candidates stood
for election in the regions where their clans are populous and campaign in the
districts where they are a majority…The candidates and their clans were
therefore the driving forces in the campaigns, rather than the parties from whom
they received very little financial support. As a campaign required personal
wealth or resources within the clan, this discriminated against aspiring
candidates who were less well off or from ‘minority’ clans.
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Bradbury, Mark.
Becoming Somaliland
. Oxford: James Currey, 2008. Print, p. 207.
