As the National election body and three political parties also concur on voter cards issuance schedule
By: Yusuf M Hasan
Somalilandsun- Maroodi-Jeeh region which encompasses the capital Hargeisa leads in the number of people registered as voters.
This was disclosed by the Somaliland National Election Commission-NEC in a press release posted on its official website www.slnec.com
According to the tally provided by NEC the total number of voters registered nationwide during the 2016 exercise is 873,331, of which Maroodi-jeeh region takes the lions share with 312,634 registered.
The country’s largest region but with a small population Sanaag saw 85,222 residents register while Sool region where NEC registration centers were availed in all designated areas for the first time had 71,096 of its residents registered as boba fide voters in Somaliland.
Of the 21 districts, Hargeisa topped the chart with 222,975 people registered as voters followed by Burao in Toghdeer region with 144,959 while Borame in Awdal region was third with 90,469 voters registered.
Click for full breakdown by district and region of registered voters in Somaliland as released by NEC
Meanwhile NEC shall start issuing voter cards to all those registered on the 29th April 2016.
This was agreed upon following a meeting between the commissioners and leaders of the three national political parties namely Kulmiye, UCID and Wadani .
The issuance which is in three phases and set to begin at the end of April has
1. Phase I Awdal and Sahil regions as well as the coastal areas of Sanaag region
2. Phase II. Maroodi-jeeh and Toghdeer regions
3. Phase III. Sool and Sanaag regions
Without giving specific dates for phases 2 & 3 NEC only informed that the relevant exercise shall commence during the month of Ramadan 2016.
