• Gunmen Deter NEC from Moving Sanaag region Ballot Boxes
• NEC reviewing Hargeisa results after violence ensues with 3 Deaths
By: Yusuf M Hasan
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – The local council election results saga continues with daily acts that change the tally posts.
The release of Disputed local council election results by NEC has raised tensions in the country to unprecedented levels never seen before after similar exercise that have won worldwide accolades for the yet to be recognized nation.
The Election body that went deaf to claims of improper activities during Election Day by a number of contesting parties has put the commission at a very precarious situation as a result of the deaths, injuries and attacks of and by ordinary citizens.
In Erigavo town masked gunmen attacked the regional NEC offices where plans were at an advanced stage to move the Sanaag regional ballot boxes to Hargeisa as reported by Abdilahi H Darwish who informed that police are investigating.
The intent of the late Saturday evening was to deter NEC from moving the Sanaag regional boxes to Hargeisa since the results have been disputed and a case is currently pending at the regional high court in Erigavo town where judge Ahmed Salah Yonis has failed to fulfil several promises made as pertains resolving the dispute.
The litigating parties contend that the election results are fraudulent because the tally released by NEC is not factual since they (results) give figures from polling centres where elections voting did not take place. They further allege that the election body under coercion from or in cahoots with the ruling Kulmiye party denied agents of the party entrance or presence in polling stations.
While the use of weapons against a national institution is an unacceptable act of hooliganism, NEC is solely responsible for the mayhem that continues to engulf the country after release of disputed elections results.
While we rue for police in Erigavo to arrest the masked gunmen in Erigavo, the attack is directly related to the biggest blunder made by the national election body, “the decision to review the Hargeisa election results”
When announcing the Hargeisa election results review the NEC boss commissioner Isse Yusuf Mohamed ‘Hamari’ informed that the decision emanates from a desire to stop further bloodshed.
The cornered commission was referring to deaths and injuries that followed confrontations between Haqsoor party supporters and the police in Hargeisa.
The confrontations which started immediately the election results for Hargeisa were announced last Thursday saw three people die and many injured after the crack Rapid Reaction Unit-RRU of the police force fired live bullets at the demonstrating Haqsoor supporters who were mostly from the Ahmed Dagah district in Hargeisa where the Haqsoor party derives most of its support.
Three of the deceased Haqsoor supporters who died from fatal gunshot wounds are Abdi Waberi, Ridwan Abdishakur and Maslah Aw Ibrahim Mohamed while the injured most of them receiving treatment at the Edna Aden Hospital include:
1. Nagib Ahmed Hussein
2. Abdikhadar Hasan Bihi
3. Abdi Isse Hashi,
4. Hasan Mohamed Maher,
5. Yusuf Abdi Jama,
6. M/s Filsan Awil,
7. M/s Hibaaq Karuur,
8. Mohamed Hussein Abdi
9. M/s Hodho Hussein
With a bleak situation prevailing the National Election commission has opened a Pandora box by deciding to review the results thus should be prepared for other areas to demand the same.
