Somaliland should pick own poll committee without FGS input, says Speaker Hashi

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Somaliland should be left to pick its own poll committee without the supervision of the Federal Government of Somalia, Senate Speaker Abdi Hashi has said, adding that any interference would compromise the outcome of the upcoming elections.

In a letter dated November 1, 2020, the firebrand Senate boss told President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble to desist from appointing those to steer elections on behalf of Somaliland, a region which claims to have seceded from Somalia.

The federal government is said to be keen on selecting a polls committee for Somaliland despite the fact that other federal states were given an opportunity to pick their own representatives, with just a few days to regional and national elections.

“The Federal Government does not have the right to appoint a committee for Somaliland as it does not appoint committee members from the federal member states,” the Senate speaker said in the tough-worded letter.

According to Hashi, the 2016 protocols on elections allows all states to independently come up with their own state committees. According to the agreements reached into by president Farmaajo and FMS leaders in September, elections for Somaliland representatives at the Senate and the Lower House will take place in Mogadishu.

The Federal Government was authorized to appoint the Somaliland committee. The region runs a parallel government but has traditionally dispatched representatives to parliament, although such elections hold little significance given Hargeisa's urge for nationhood.

Hashi who hails from Somaliland said Somaliland should be allowed to appoint its own committee just as Federal Member States [FMS] do. He's a critic of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and has often accused him of interfering with the independence of parliament.

The NCF which comprises of the Federal Government leadership and presidents of the FMS resolved in their meeting in Mogadishu last month to allow Mogadishu to appoint the committee which shall conduct elections for MPs and Senators representing Somaliland clans in the Federal Parliament.

The State Level Elections Committees, the NCF decided, will be appointed by the respective Federal Member States. The Committee at the state level will work together with the Federal Elections Committee to conduct the elections set to kick off from next month.

After regional assemblies pick their representatives to the Senate, the committees will oversee parliamentary polls. Later on, in February, MPs are expected to pick the next president who will serve the country for the next four years.

GAROWE ONLINE