H.E President Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud “Siilaanyo”, Tuesday, conferred with the leaders of the House of Representatives – one of two chambers of the Somaliland parliament – and the leaders of the republic’s three political parties of Kulmiye, Waddani and Ucid in a meeting he chaired at his office at the presidency.
In a meeting that took more than two hours, according to a statement the presidency spokesman put on his office’s Facebook page, the leaders discussed ways and means to speed up the electoral process leading to parliamentary and presidential elections slated for March 2017.
The leaders also discussed how best to implement one-man, one-vote elections that are fair and free in parts of Sool and Sanaag regions in order to give constituents their fair share of the government and parliament. Prevalent conditions were taken into consideration.
The President, the statement said, repeated his personal and his government’s position on the election timetable, reiterating that the schedule ought to be strictly adhered to without fail in order to run this latest exercise in democracy as impeccably as other elections that had preceded it were conducted.
Issues such as resources to run unbudgeted activities and contingencies that were not charted on the government and donors’ roadmap were delved into in depth, according to the Spokesman’s statement.
Present at the meeting on the government side, besides the president, were the Vice President, and the Minister and State Minister for Presidency.
All three political parties’ leaders, their top aides and the two Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives attended.
The Republic of Somaliland has established an enviable record in good governance, consultation processes and a unique track record in getting the best out of traditional and contemporary cultures which had made it an oasis of peace, democracy and stability in a volatile region.
For 25 years, the Republic of Somaliland held its head high despite daunting political, economic and social odds the most devastating of which an international community that punishes it for its achievement while rewarding neighboring Somalia for a myriad of failures
