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Members of parliament are in office illegally their tenure having expired five years ago” Jamal Ali
“The failure to register voters is a ploy to extend the tenure of ruling party Kulmiye” MP Ibrahim Bubaa
By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The two opposition political parties of UCID and Wadani want the administration to effect voter registration before the end of this year.
The two parties that second fiddle the ruling Kulmiye party expressed this want during separate interviews with Hargeisa based newspaper the Geeska Afrika.
According to the presidential candidate of UCID party the delay in availing the country a voter register for presidential and parliamentary elections slated for 2015 is tantamount to postponement.
“We hoped the government had learned some lessons following the after 2012 local council elections disturbances which the country was lucky to escape unscathed”
Attributing the nationwide acrimonious of the post 2012 elections to undertaking the exercise devoid of a voters register Jamal Ali Hussein urged the authorities to ensure the forthcoming elections of 2015 do not go the same way.
On the issue of the current sitting members of parliament the prospective occupier of the country’s seat of power had this to say:
“Members of parliament are in office illegally their tenure having expired five years ago”
Wondering how it was possible to throw away the voter register made by former government of president Rayale at the exorbitant cost of $13 millions without offering an alternative Jamal Ali Hussein said further delays in the registration of voters exercise shall be construed as an overt scheme of the ruling Kulmiye party to extend its tenure.
According to the Wadani party Ibrahim Mahdi Bubaa who is also a member of the sitting parliament, the deal entered between state and parliament during scrapping of the Rayale voter register was that one shall be put in place within six years.
Said he, “As you are aware a number of years have passed since then and a voter register is yet to be put in place”
Informing that the non fulfillment of the voter registration deal between parliament and the presidency was a breach of the country’s democratization process MP Bubaa said
“The failure to register voters is a ploy to extend the tenure of ruling party Kulmiye”
In conclusion both the presidential candidate and Member of Parliament who were in concurrences that elections cannot take place without the registration of voters demanded that the government undertake the exercise before the close of the year.
