Somaliland: Technical Unit to Manage 2020 Parliamentary and Local Council’s Elections -Parties Agree

Somalilandsun: Elections must be held before end of 2020 in “Somaliland” where parliamentary elections were last held in 2005.

This was unanimously agreed upon by the three national political parties namely Kulmiye, UCID and Wadani during a meeting at the Somaliland presidency in Hargeisa.

The agreement originally in Somali language below translated by www.somalilandsun.com 

Title: Agreement to Conduct Somaliland Parliamentary and local Council’s elections in 2020

Signed 27^th February 2020

PREFACE

1. In lieu of the democratic importance of undertaking parliamentary and local council’s elections
2. Upon acknowledging disputes leading to postponement of the elections and

• In recognition that all political parties must be part and in agreement of the ballot decision making process

The three national political parties of Kulmiye, UCID and Wadani hereby agree to the following Points

1. Objective

The objective of this agreement is to allow mechanism be put in place for purposes of facilitating holding of the two elections in 2020, through establishing mutually agreeable bodies for settling disputes emanating in the elections

2. Bodies and Responsibilities in the 2020 Elections

• The National Elections Commission has the overall and constitutional mandate to manage elections in the country but in the planned 2020 parliamentary and local councils elections it shall delegate day to day management duties to a Technical Elections Management Unit that shall undertake its obligations pursuant to relevant laws of the country namely

• Local councils and presidential elections law #20/2001 and including amendments of 2001.
• Parliamentary election law #20-2/2005
• Voters registration law #37/2007 and including amendments of 2014 and 2016
• Political parties code of conduct 2017
• Media Code of Conduct 2017 and
• Political Parties Code of Conduct as pertains voter registration of 2017

  

3. National Elections Commission –NEC Responsibilities

NEC shall be responsible for submitting to relevant stakeholders

• budget,
• staff appointment and firing,
• Announcing elections dates and
• Announcing final results and
• facilitate the assumption of duties by the Technical Elections Management Unit
• 4. Technical Elections Management Unit-TEMU

TEMU shall be composed of 10 members namely

• 7 members of the immediate past NEC with voting powers and
• Three non-voting members representing the International community and

• Head and deputy chiefs of TEMU to be selected from voting members

  

5. Duties and Responsibilities of TEMU

TEMU shall undertake its duties in pursuant to local councils and presidential elections laws as well as the parliamentary elections laws in close collaboration with NEC as follows

• Day to day management of activities related to 2020 parliamentary and local council’s elections
• Prepare and submit to NEC quarterly and overall elections budget for forwarding to Accountant- General
• iii.            Propose technically viable dates for holding the elections and submitting to NEC thence the president for a decree.
• Voter registration prior to elections
• Setting up voting centers, apportioning number of voters per center at all levels nationally namely trading centers, Districts and regions.
• Appointment and firing of elections officers at its headquarters, district and regional offices.
• vii.          Election related dispute resolution
• viii.         Communicate on elections issues with international community, political parties and citizens
• Tallying of votes and submit to NEC for announcement
• The Term and mandate of TEMU ends once election results are announced

6. Election Dispute Resolution

Any elections related not resolved by TEMU shall be forwarded to the High within 14 days and decision reached shall be final. That is no appeal

7. Agreement official language

This agreement shall utilize language in pursuant to the Somaliland constitution

(Editor’s note: The Somaliland constitution stipulates Somali as the first language followed by Arabic and English in that order)

8. This Somaliland inter-parties agreement becomes effective immediately leaders of the Kulmiye, UCID and Wadani parties sign