International election observers hold a press conference on Tuesday where they congratulate Somaliland for another successful election.
“Although Somaliland is not recognized by the outside world, yet shows that it is possible to implement this, it is recognized in a way,” said observers chairman Michael Walls at the press conference in Hargeisa.
The election in Somaliland went peacefully and quietly, according to the international election observers at a press conference in Hargeisa on Tuesday evening.
The 60 observers from 27 countries visited 350 polling stations in all of Somaliland’s six regions.
Michael Walls, chairman of the observers, is applauded when he said during the press conference that Somaliland elections should be seen as an acknowledgment in itself.
“Although Somaliland is not recognized by the outside world, yet shows that it is possible to implement this, it is in some way an acknowledgment,” said Michael Walls at the press conference in Hargeisa.
The election observers have pointed out some shortcomings in the implementation of the election, such as minors voting, the limitation of voting confidentiality, and restrictions on voters’ knowledge of how to vote.
However, Mohamed Hassan, a journalist from Star TV, points out that the restriction in the voting ceremony that people in the polling station found out what the voter voted on was explained by the times when, for example, old people openly called out which candidate they would vote for and how they would go approach.
– It’s a relevant point, Walls replies, explaining that the restriction of voting confidentiality can also be explained by some voters lack of knowledge of how to vote.
“Although there are reasonable explanations for why voting confidentiality has been restricted, we still need to point out this,” said Walls.
The lack of implementation of the election was not a reason to deny the process, observers said. It is only when the shortcomings can be regarded as systematic and sufficiently comprehensive as one should question the legitimacy of the election.
– We estimate that the identified shortcomings are not so comprehensive or systematic that they have affected currency fluctuations. No choice in the world is without flaws.
Walls concludes by saying that democracy development and election processes are similar to evolutionary processes and that Somaliland has taken on previous criticisms and continues to develop in the right direction.
“Sometimes mutations happen, but not in this case, we congratulate Somaliland for another progressive step in their election revolution,” Walls said.
Markus Allard markus.allard@nyheteridag.se
Original Swedish language story titled “Internationella valobservatörerna: Genomförandet av valet är ett erkännande i sig” by Markus Allard and we translated using google translator
