Somaliland: Political organizations to vie for official party-ship status by selling their policies to the populace

By M.A. Egge

Political organizations are, in the future, expected to compete between themselves such that the top three would thus become the official national political parties.

This scenario is as per the amendments made to the systemic Political Organizations and Parties Act of 14/20021, voted through by the National Assemblies Parliament’s lower House of the Representatives in their session on Saturday 10^th April 2021.

This law allows the registration of new political organizations or parties following the expiry of the tenure of the official three existing ones, which is due about December 2022.

Prior to the amendments of the law, political organizations mobilized themselves and entered the political fray in competition hence the top six running for the civic elections have three  relegated thereafter to have the topmost three become the bonafide official national political parties.

Now that the general parliamentary and civic elections are to run concurrently in juxtaposition, hence the political parties filtration having been overlapped or displaced by being overtaken by events, the legislative assembly has sought the amendments to address the anomaly of legal hiccups thence have political organizations vie amongst their-selves to get the resultant top legal three.

In essence, before they become official political parties (Three only as per constitution), they are initially termed political organizations- (Whatever the number).

They usually were registered or licensed to operate for a whole decade.

Given that their expiry is due next year, the amendments specify that new organizations including the existing political parties, mobilize themselves 6 months before the due expiry date, hence sell their policies to the members of the public before holding elections to produce three top official political parties.

This have also been amended to be some six months before the forthcoming presidential elections due at the end of 2022.

The scenario is a pilot one hitherto not done in the country formulated to address the systemic order overlapped that was prevalent before.