General election in Somaliland 2005
The 2005 general election in Somaliland took place on September 29, 2005. The House of Representatives of Somaliland , whose members had previously been appointed by the clans , was determined for the first time in a democratic election. After the local elections in 2002 and the presidential elections in 2003, it was the third election in the internationally unrecognized Somaliland, which had declared independence from Somalia in 1991 .
execution
The elections were originally supposed to be held in 2004. However, they were postponed due to disagreements in the distribution of parliamentary seats by administrative region and the division of constituencies, as well as delays in voter registration. Smaller clans in particular, which had previously guaranteed seats, feared they would be at a disadvantage compared to larger and more electoral clans.
Since quite a few voters still decide according to clan membership, the parties took this factor into account. They tended to put forward candidates from larger subclans, as they expected more votes from them. Women had significantly worse chances of being nominated as candidates, since they are traditionally not integrated into the political networks in the clans; out of 246 candidates, seven were women.
In the districts in the disputed border area that were controlled by the Somali autonomous region of Puntland , the elections did not take place.
Results
| UDUB | Kulmiye | UCID | Number of votes |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awdal | 56.1% | 20.2% | 23.7% | 133.020 |
| Hargeysa | 32.2% | 37.9% | 29.9% | 253.229 |
| Saaxil | 41.5% | 23.5% | 34.9% | 52,479 |
| Sanaag | 38.9% | 41.1% | 20.1% | 89.286 |
| Sool | 44.5% | 43.6% | 11.8% | 20,557 |
| Togdheer | 32.5% | 39.1% | 28.4% | 121,751 |
| Total | 39.0% | 34.1% | 26.9% | 670.322 |
With 39% of the vote, the ruling party UDUB achieved the highest share and 33 out of 82 seats. The Kulmiye party got 34.1% (28 seats) and the UCID 26.9% (21 seats). The two opposition parties then formed a coalition with a majority of 49 seats.
Of the former parliamentarians, 18 have just stood for re-election, of which 14 were re-elected. The new parliamentarians are on average significantly younger than the previous parliament. For the first time two women are represented; of these, one was elected in Awdal with the lowest result of all successful candidates, the other was given a seat as a candidate of the UDUB for those parts of Sanaag in which the elections did not take place. Around 30 of the parliamentarians belong to the Somaliland diaspora , a large part of which is involved in Somaliland politics and has dual citizenship.
There were allegations that the UDUB had abused its influence in the run-up to the elections and on election day itself. Election observers from the International Republican Institute found no evidence for most of these allegations, but found irregularities in the Awdal region , where the UDUB achieved the highest percentage of votes: in Lughaya district the number of votes reported was over six times as high as in 2003 and in the districts Zeila and Baki about three times as high; some opposition party representatives in the polling stations are said to have been replaced by representatives loyal to the government. Apart from the incidents in Awdal, the elections were generally free and fair.
Changes in the composition by clans
| Clans | Seats in parliament ahead of the 2005 elections |
Seats after 2005 |
change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Isaaq | 48 (59%) | 57 (69.5%) | +9 |
| Gadabursi-Dir | 10 (12%) | 13 (16%) | +3 |
| Issa-dir | 5 (6%) | 1 (1.2%) | −4 |
| Dolbohanta-Darod | 9 (11%) | 6 (7.3%) | −3 |
| Warsangeli-Darod | 5 (6%) | 4 (4.8%) | −1 |
| Hawiye | 1 (1.2%) | 1 (1.2%) | - |
| Minorities | 4 (4.8%) | 0 (0%) | −4 |
With regard to the shares of the clans, there were changes, since each clan was no longer allocated a certain number of seats, but only the number of votes per candidate was decisive. Above all the Isaaq - who make up an estimated 80% of the population - and next to them the Gadabursi-Dir have won seats. Within the Isaaq, the large subclans of the Garhajis (Habr Yunis and Eidagalla), Habr Awal and Habr Toljaalo were able to record seat gains, while the smaller subclans of the Ayub and Arab have lost seats. The minorities were unable to hold any of their previous four seats. The losers include the Warsangeli and Dolbohanta because of the low turnout in Sanaag and Sool, which will contribute to their feeling of being marginalized towards Isaaq and you in Somaliland. The Issa-Dir are noticeably less represented because, instead of Somaliland, they are increasingly orienting themselves towards neighboring Djibouti , where they make up the majority of the population and dominate politics.
swell
- Mark Bradbury: Becoming Somaliland , 2008, ISBN 978-1847013101 (pp. 202–216)
- Report on the parliamentary elections 2005 of the International Republican Institute ( PDF ; 429 kB)
- Progressio report (English, PDF; 294 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Norwegian Center for Human Rights (NORDEM): Somaliland: Elections for the Lower House of Parliament, September 2005 ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; pp. 19–22)
- ↑ Horn of Africa Bulletin, June / July 2008: Somaliland's Diaspora: The absent but active constituency ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ International Republican Institute: Somaliland September 29, 2005 Parliamentary Election Assessment Report (pp. 31–32)
