Somaliland Election trapped between new technology and enemies of
democracy.
Abdulazez Al-MotairiDecember 10, 2009
For the second time, Republic of
Somaliland defused another election dispute in limited time, which
could have harmed the democratic process. The ruling and opposition
parties signed six terms agreement that replaced old members of
National Election Commission.
The new commission has difficult job ahead including clearing the
mistakes in voter registration system. A high-tech biometric
technology is been used in the registration; however, the use of
such technology was too early for Somaliland due to lack of public
awareness and infrastructure in the country. Somaliland is one of
the first African countries to use such sophisticated technology to
empower democracy.
Moreover, the registration process challenged tribal demography that
is sensitive in Somaliland and the region in general, because all
tribes wanted to score high in the census. This led many tribesmen
to enroll two or three times, which tripled the expected number. The
capacity of the server could not process the high number. At this
point we can say, modern technology undermined the growing democracy
of Somaliland.
In Ireland, political parties and communities rejected introduction
of new biometric registration system, urging that public are not
ready to adopt it.
In Kuwait, the parliament rejected the proposed introduction of
biometric and DNA identification systems in the country, because
they believed that no electronic voting system can be trustworthy
and it is a genuine threat to the democracy. They forced the
governments to halt proposal until enough public awareness achieved.
Saudi Arabia faced similar faith in the voter registration.
Somaliland, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has tribal and cultural
similarities, and they could have fail if tried, and face similar
problems with Somaliland. However, I believe that Somaliland people
and government were braver than their counterparts in the Arabian
Peninsula for accepting the electronic voting.
Today, the electronic voter registration is witnessing obstacles and
became threat to democracy process in Somaliland. Analyzers advised
Somaliland to carry out awareness programs before the election, in
order to familiarize the system to win the trust of the public.
Somaliland authority must demand better server or ask the supplier
to upgrade it. This will accelerate the process of removing the
duplications. The current server is not capable of handling the
database of 3.5 million, and should be upgraded.
Somaliland held three consecutive elections including municipal
council, parliamentary and presidential. The winning margin in the
latest presidential election was very close (80 votes). The
opposition accepted the election results peacefully unlike regional
countries where thousands lost their lives in election disputes. At
this point, Somaliland earned respect from world community in its
campaign to promote democracy and without international support. The
most remarkable is that neither election experts nor crisis
diffusers helped Somaliland to solve its election disputes
In addition, the peaceful power transfer to the Vice President Dahir
Riyale Kahin after sudden death to founder and father of modern
Somaliland Mohamed Ibrahim Egal was another golden achievement in
the history of Somaliland. Egal was savior and rescuer of
Somaliland.
During the power transfer, BBC Somali Service posted report saying
that Isaac tribe, who make majority in Somaliland, will not allow
minority tribes to lead the country. According to BBC, this means
that Dahir Riyale Kahin, who is from minority tribe, won´t take over
as new president. BCC analysis failed and Riyale sworn in as third
president of Somaliland in less than 15 years and again he was
reelected for second term in office.
After voter registration installed, the Somaliland elders – Upper
House of the Parlia ment (Guurti) – took backseats to give the
technology and democracy enough space to practice, but closely
monitored the development from distance. Voter registration server
output was not accurate due to the weak hardware specifications.
However, after technology failed and created political chaos in the
country due above mentioned reasons, the elders stepped in again to
defuse the tension between the politicians. At the beginning the
elders had communication gap with sponsor of voter registration
system – Interpeace.
Enemy attacks:
The enemies of Somaliland are trying to fail the upcoming
presidential election includi ng Al-Shabab terrorist organization
along with other groups stationed in Nairobi, Kenya who receive
support from Transitional Government of Somalia led by Sheikh Sharif
Sheikh Ahmed.
This group headed by close associates of Somali Foreign Minister
Jangali and wants to disturb Somaliland election and stability.
Al-Shabab is planning to carry out Taliban-style suicide bombing
during the Election Day, but the Somaliland forces are better
equipped and trained, and will not allow them.
In other hand, the international community including AU, UN, EU and
USA are upporting the elections in Somaliland, and vowed to send
election observers. The world started to feel the democracy
development in Somaliland.
Somaliland needs diplomatic recognition, not a financial aid because
they reached self-satisfactory and established necessary public
services alone. The Nairobi administration should not allow armed
groups to plan terror against Somaliland on Kenyan soil.
By Abdulaziz Al-Mutairi
Email: az.almutairi@yahoo.com
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