Somalilandsun: The Somaliland Parliamentary and local Councils elections 2021 shall be monitored by a large number of local observers.
This follows the conclusion of a two days election Monitoring training for 800 participants conducted by the Somaliland Non State Actors Forum- SONSAF in Hargeisa
The SONSAF organized 800 local observers were pooled from all the six and 23 electoral regions and districts respectively, and training conducted at their respective regional capitals.
This was informed by the SONSAF chairperson Anwar Abdirahman Warsame during launch of the training in Hargeisa.
“While your recruitment was undertaken from your respective electoral regions and districts your deployment will not be necessarily to your specific hometowns “ Anwar Warsame told the trainees.
The domestic observers will augment the over 40 strong international elections monitoring missions already in the country.
Also at hand is a 30 member European Union team composed of EU country members diplomats who arrived in the country on Saturday
According to Somaliland parliamentary and local Councils elections 2021 monitoring strategies put in place by SONSAF, the local observers shall be deployed to any polling stations and region or electoral district.
The Somaliland National Elections Commission-NEC has put in place 1642 polling stations countrywide where the over 1,200,000 registered voters shall cast their ballot for their preferred Member of parliament and councillor on the 31st May 2021.
Stressing the importance of their services to the Somaliland democratization process , the SONSAF chairperson told the participants that “ Your duties shall involve monitoring whether the elections are conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner”
For the first time the recruitment of local elections observers included persons with disabilities
The local elections observer training and mission is funded by the European Union- EU
During their two days of training the 48 instructors imparted skills related to the methodology and procedure for monitoring combined elections.
Apart from being detailed on their duties and responsibilities the local observers also acquired knowledge related to their rights and other relevant privileges bestowed upon them during the elections.
Having completed their induction the 800 domestic local observers will be dispatched to the assigned polling stations across the country on Sunday, a day prior to the polls
