Puntland State of Somalia Prepares for One Person, One Vote Elections

[Deeq A.]

President Deni is committed to revolutionising the Puntland political system.

Garowe (PP News Desk) — Nearly one year after Puntland State of Somalia successfully conducted pilot local elections at three designated districts, the Ministry of Interior, Federalisation and Democratisation yesterday launched Empowerment for Political Associations initiative. Puntland Development Research Centre and The Oslo Center will jointly oversee the initiative described by the Interior Minister Mohamed Abdirahman Dhaban’ad as a part of “our commitment to conducting one person, one vote elections in Puntland State of Somalia”.

Last week, President Said Abdullahi Deni convened a summit for political associations and laid out the plan to fully decentralise powers to districts and villages to enable citizens to elect MPs and President by January 2024. The current Puntland political system gives to the presidency an unaccountable political mandate in which the parliamentarian serves not the interests of the constituency he/she nominally represents but those of the executive branch of government which also controls the legislature.

Mohamed Abdirahman Dhaban’ad yesterday launched ‘Empowerment for Political Associations of Puntland’ initiative.

Puntland political associations will flesh out their political programmes on the basis of “decentralisation and accountability” to ensure that every district will be able to manage its budgets under an independent audit regime.

Although Puntland has pioneered and advocated for the implementation of the federal system at the national level, it has been practising a form of centralisation that has resulted in political and economic stagnation. The decentralisation agenda will remove the role of elders in electing MPs beholden only to an incumbent President.

© Puntland Post, 2022

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