British Office
Hargeisa
16 SEPTEMBER 2016
SUBJECT: SOMALILAND PARLIAMENTARY AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
The International Community expresses serious concern over the President of Somaliland’s
decision to delay Somaliland’s Parliamentary March 2017 elections. This unnecessary delay will
harm public and international confidence in Somaliland’s democratisation process and will
have implications for the international community engagement with Somaliland. The
postponement has been announced without a clear legal or constitutional basis and despite
the Chief Justice’s ruling that the Presidential and Parliamentary elections should take place
jointly, in March. The people of Somaliland have queued in record numbers to register to vote
in both elections, and have a legitimate expectation that they will be allowed to exercise this
vote.
The International Community has provided substantial support to this electoral process on the
basis of Somaliland’s commitments to timely, concurrent Presidential and Parliamentary
elections. The imminent and successful completion of the voter registration process
determines a clear timeline for the polls in March 2017, which we cannot afford to change.
Donors have invested heavily in the electoral preparation and do not want to see this
commitment undermined and depleted by continuous delays. The International Community
will not be able to fund the additional costs that the decision to delay the Parliamentary
elections will incur, the burden of which will therefore regrettably fall on the Somaliland
people.
The International Community agrees that Somaliland reconciliation is an important objective.
We call on the President to urgently set out a clear process, with timelines, to achieve a fair
seat allocation formula and political representation for all Somalilanders in the election of their
Parliament. We reiterate that fixed term Parliamentary elections now would still enable both
reforms in the parliamentary seat allocation and a reconciliation process to take place during
the Parliamentary term. We therefore urge the President of Somaliland to reconsider his
decision, and to hold the Presidential and Parliamentary elections together in March 2017.
ON BEHALF OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY [US, UK, EU, UN, SWEDEN,
DENMARK] AND THE SOMALILAND ELECTIONS DONOR WORKING GROUP
