Somalilandsun- Hasan Yusuf Dualeh shall not be commissioner at the Somaliland national elections Commission-NEC, representing UCID party.
This was revealed by the opposition party through a circular released by its leader Eng. Feisal Ali Warabe in the Capital Hargeisa.
According to the circular also copied to president Muse Bihi, the new UCID party representative at NEC is Abdifatah Ibrahim Hasan
The opposition politician also urged the president to expedite forwarding, to the House of Representatives for approval and subsequent swearing the new UCID party’s nominee to NEC.
The new appointment comes a few days after UCID rejected the abrupt resignation of Hasan Yusuf Dualeh as a NEC Commissioner representing the Somaliland opposition party.
Hasan tender his resignation from NEC in February this year during the height of political tensions resulting from disputed composition of the siting electoral body as well as postponed parliamentary and local council’s elections.
The rejection of his voluntary exit from NEC was rejected by UCID a short while after the then political tensions were resolved through an inter-parties (Ruling Kulmiye, opposition Wadani and UCID) agreement mediated by EU envoy to Somaliland and Somalia Ambassador Nicholas Berlanga.
Following the agreement Wadani, the second Somaliland opposition party which has never been represented at NEC also announced its nomination of a representative.
Once the two opposition party’s nominees are approved by the House of representatives, the Somaliland lower chamber of parliament, swearing shall be conducted by the chief justice thus fulfill constitutional stipulations which dictate that 2 of the seven NEC commissioners represent opposition party’s’, 3 appointed by Guurti, parliament’s upper chamber and 2 by the head of state.
While it is a welcome move the nomination of Abdifatah Ibrahim Hasan to NEC is a bit perplexing since he was a commissioner in the immediate past Somaliland electoral body whose term expired mid last year.
The confusion emanates from the fact that the Amb Berlanga inter-party agreement established a ten member Technical Elections management Unit-TEMU composed of three member’s representation the international community with a stake in the Somaliland democratization process and the seven members of the immediate past NEC, of which Abdifatah was a member.
The TEMU –NEC membership muddle is not a sole preserve of UCID since one of the president’s (read Kulmiye party) nominee to the current body Ms. Kaltun Sheikh Hasan is herself a carryover from the outgone body.
AS the disorder engulfing NEC Vis ‘a’ Vis TEMU which is to oversee the entire election slated for any time before end of 2020, is being resolved it is hoped that the haste of reaching the Berlanga agreement does not become an impediment itself.
