Somaliland.Org

According to the recent legislation passed by the parliament; Somaliland Citizens are required to be registered in order to be eligible to vote in the elections; beginning on July 2008 local elections and the August 2008 Presidential elections. This means every man; woman and young person in cities, small towns or in the country side; over the age of 15 yrs who is eligible to vote must be registered.Mr. Hersi Ali Hassan, Vice-Chairman of National Election Commission (NEC) in Somaliland announced on February 12, 2008 that the Commission will start the Voter Registration process in Somaliland and has plans to complete it within 45 days.

The Institute (EAPI) position on this matter is that 45 days is not enough time to successfully complete this massive undertaking saddled with unnecessary deadline, which will likely create an enormous amount of rancor, outright chaos, confusion, and will ultimately disenfranchise citizens in the 2008 elections. The reality is that to-date the Commission has yet to open a single office to carry out the Voter Registration work or awarded contract to consultants who will do the work.

Despite the logistical, organizational, and personal challenges that a Voter Registration task of any size entails the Commission is lurching ahead seemingly unimpressed by the task at hand.

The estimated eligible voters in Somaliland are over one million people; of those 440,067 people voted in the 2002 local government elections, 488,543 people voted in the 2003 presidential elections, 670,332 people voted in the 2005 parliamentary elections.

It is reasonable to assume that about 700,000 people will vote in the 2008 elections (local elections in July and Presidential elections in August of 2008). This means the Commission would have to register 15,555 people every day. Given the resources available and the limited time allocated, the math simply does not add up and the only logical conclusion one could reach is that either the elections will be postponed once again, or most of the eligible voters will not be registered in time for the elections and will not be able to vote.

The thorny issue of registering scattered nomads in the vast expanses between cities or reaching Somaliland communities residing across the border into what is now known as region 5 not-withstand, the real question that begs an answer is; why is it necessary to engage in this crash program to complete voter registration by attempting to accomplish in mere days what in reality requires years to properly finish it? And why are the 2008 elections tied to having everyone registered before they can vote? What are the contingency plans for citizens who may not be registered, but will show up at
the polling station to cast their vote?

Conventional wisdom suggests that in order to keep down voting irregularities it is better to have registered voters at election times; but even in advanced democracies unregistered people are still allowed to cast provisional ballots and once proven that they are eligible to vote their votes are counted. The reason being is that democracies are based on the vote of the people and without those votes, the end result is something short of true democracy.
The political parties, the administration and the Election Commission have all signed up and approved the current plan of action and even though they have every right to set up their own rules and regulations when it comes to election matters, they are very close to crossing the line and proposing unconstitutional measures that could limit the people’s right to vote, and that is simply unacceptable.

These measures run the risk of invalidating one of the most important and amendment proof articles in the Somaliland Constitution:
Article 22[1-2] - Political, Economic, Social and Electoral Rights; of the Somaliland Constitution states; 1.Every citizen shall have the right to participate in the political, economic, social and cultural affairs in accordance with the laws and the Constitution.
2. Every citizen who fulfils the requirements of the law shall have the right to be elected (to a public office) and to vote. Also, Article 127 [d]: The Limits of Amendments or Corrections of the Constitution, clearly states that no one has the authority to make laws that will disenfranchise the people: “No proposal to amend or correct the Constitution shall be made if it includes a provision which is in conflict with:[d]. Fundamental rights and individual freedoms]”.

This point is clearly emphasized in the Somaliland Constitution where it makes the right to vote and to be voted into office one of the fundamental rights of the citizen, a right so essential that no branch of Government (Executive, Judiciary, or Legislative) has any authority to deny or amend.

It will certainly be a stretch to call a medical operation (surgery) successful if the patient dies as a result of it; and by the same token it is not worth having a voter registration process, which prevents a large segment of the voters from casting a vote. Under the best of circumstances the proposed Voter Registration plan will favor big city dwellers over country side residents; but given this late hour, short schedule, and existing minimum infrastructure; even all the eligible voters in the big cities would be hard pressed to complete the process and get registered in time within 45 days.

An ideal approach would have been to have the registration process completed in time for the 2010 Parliamentary Election while starting the work now. This will give everyone the time needed to complete the process. Insisting to proceed on the current course of action introduces unnecessary and artificial burden, and it may lead to impacting negatively on the work of the Commission (specially, if the current process seems to favor one political party over another) and introduce lack of credibility, potential conflict, and charges of sinister motives behind proponents of this unrealistic warp speed registration process.

One needs to keep in mind what the ultimate goal is. The idea of registering voters is a step in the right direction and it will certainly represent a significant improvement in the Somaliland democratic process; however, it runs the risk of doing more harm than good if large numbers of voters will be unable to cast their votes because of it.

For the sake of this young democracy it is worth revisiting this issue with fresh eyes and a clear mind, enough time to educate the people and a massive outreach campaign is needed to enroll as many people as possible to make the registration a meaningful one and the political establishment must recognize that it is in their best interest to have as many voters as possible take part in the election process and given allocated time it simply impossible to have it done in time for this coming election.

Keeps the registration process going, but arraignments must be made for the countless number of voters who will not be registered in time due to no fault of their own, and they must be allowed to vote.

East Africa PI
www.eastafricapi.com
Mahdi Gabose
Rashid Garuf

* Please visit www.eastafricapi.com to see our next article about the winners and losers of the Somaliland voter registration process.