Somalia 
Narrow Somaliland vote disputed

afrol News, 21 April - Only 80 votes divided the two principal candidates of the self-declared republic of Somaliland's first multiparty presidential elections. As President Dahir Riyaale Kahin claims to have been re-elected, opposition leader Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo now is to appeal the count, which he claims to be rigged.

The opposition leader claims he "knows" of several incidents of election rigging. He told the press in Hargeisa, the capital, that the election results presented by the National Electoral Commission last week were "useless and malicious lies." A senior official in Mr Silanyo's party added that he was "not contesting the way the poll was conducted. What we are contesting is the counting."

Mr Silanyo is the founder and leader of the Kulmiye (Solidarity) party, the leading opposition party in Somaliland. While the Kulmiye party was only founded one year ago, it has already made an image of being the party of the Hargeisa establishment. Mr Silanyo so far has a reputation of forming a "constructive opposition" and demanding change while defending the system.

At this stage, however, the Kulmiye party leader claims he has been cheated from his victory, alleging the outcome of the 14 April poll was "not just". He added he now "knew why the electoral commission postponed the results" - this was because they were "preparing" rigged results.

The chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Ahmad Haji Ali Adami, however maintains that the electoral process has been handled correctly and asks all parties to accept the results and maintain peaceful. He especially sent this appeal to Mr Silanyo.

The commission urged Mr Silanyo to follow the legal procedures provided for by the Somaliland constitution if he was to dispute the poll results. Candidates are allowed to appeal the results to High Court within 20 days or before the Supreme Court will approve or disapprove of the election results. The Kulmiye party has indicated it will file an official complaint to a Hargeisa court.

Regarding the allegations on the late presentation results by the electoral commission, it was referred to the narrow distance between the two leading candidates for the presidency. While incumbent President Kahin had obtained 205,595 votes, Mr Silanyo had been given 205,515 votes. A third candidate, Faysal Ali Warabeh of the Ucid party, had obtained 77,433 votes.

The electoral commission further found it unlike that the counting of the votes could have been rigged, given the transparent election system implemented in this year's poll. All parties had agents present at each counting place who countersigned each result before it was sent to Hargeisa.

Also independent, foreign election observers had approved of the Somaliland poll. A team of South African election observers has already concluded on its monitoring, saying the process was peaceful, orderly and transparent. There were no reports of violence or rigging during the exercise.

If the election results announced by the National Electoral Commission stands, President Riyaale will have emerged the winner of Somaliland's first free multiparty presidential elections.

President Riyaale only came to power last year, being Vice President under Somaliland's late founding President Mohamed Egal. Following Mr Egal's sudden death, Mr Riyaale took over the leadership of the ruling Udub party and promised to introduce democratic reforms in the breakaway republic. He also promised to strengthen the efforts to achieve international recognition of Somaliland.

Mr Riyaale is known as "a man of few words," in sharp contrast to the populist President Egal. During his short time in Hargeisa's presidential office, he has however proven to follow an ambitious programme of democratisation and development. Both factors are seen to be crucial for a future international recognition of Somaliland.

Somaliland is a former British protectorate that united with (former Italian) Somalia short time after independence in 1960. Following the collapse of the dictatorship of Siyad Barre (1984-1990), Somaliland unilaterally declared its independence from Somalia.

While Somalia has experience more than one decade of civil war and anarchy, Somaliland has been a peaceful oasis on the Horn of Africa. Given this month's elections, it undoubtedly also has emerged the most democratic nation in the entire region.

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