The Political Importance of Somaliland's Political Parties

[Jacaylbaro]

Political parties are non governmental institutions that organize and give direction to mass political desires. They bring people together who think alike and have common interest and help them work toward common goals. The clearest goal of any political party is power to control government and bring about one’s policy preferences. In an age of democracy participation and power goes to that party who connect with the mass.

 

 

Today the ruling party is having trouble making that connection and the opposition parties failed so far to fill the void and influence the ruling party to be more responsive. The existing opposition parties are not united and each one is fulfilling a different political agenda and they do not have financial resources of their own. They have become an easy target for the administration to manipulate them.

 

Political parties should be at the heart of democracy linking what the citizens want and what the government does. They must continually change, adapt and adjust to the existing circumstances all the time. They are required to be in touch with the voters from whom they derive support and power so that they can give control of government and the policy making process.

 

Winning office is crucial to parties and must spend much time and energy to reach that goal. They must continually look for effective, popular candidates to help them win votes. The search for good candidates is an on going process and never ends until you are getting the right candidate.

 

At present the political parties are dominated by men who have no political support of the grass roots. The people are fed up of having the same names to be always the party candidates. It is not possible to support a candidate that is not likely to win and that is why the people are worried and frustrated and at the same time there is no other choice.

 

Democracy begins at party level. There must be a democratic way of choosing the candidates of the party. The people who want to run for office should compete fairly so that the best candidate and most probable to win are in the party ticket. This will encourage voters to be enthusiastic to support their party. This open competition for power serves the desires of the voting public by recruiting good candidates representing voter wishes and being held responsible for their actions in office. Backing away from the democratic way of choosing candidates in the parties will produce a backlash.

 

The political parties are required to open their candidacy for the public to run for office. This pattern of equal opportunity for party ticket is best and impressive for the party to enter the race more confidently. They should realign their system and the ability of each party to deliver favorable candidates and policies be readjusted.

 

The election of president is about one year from now and the fever of the campaign has already started. A new party has emerged in the political scene utilizing the voter frustration. They are moving very fast though the legality of this party is being questioned. This party has a good chance in the race if they manage to legalize before election time.

 

The people were expecting the elected parliament to make the necessary check and balance but we entered an era of new confrontations between the executive and the parliament. On the other hand there is no discipline in parliament meetings. They often fight inside the hall and if this attitude continues the public will loose confidence. They are required to do the necessary amendments in the constitution and allow this new party to enter the race with the existing parties.

 

The central committee holds the highest authority for each political party but in fact this has been always weak in every party and need to change. The primary task is to organize party convention at the right time using regional representation. The convention symbolizes the party’s existence as a national institution. In this connection party delegates from around the country should come together to nominate their candidates. It is the place where the principles and policies of the party are set and the voter distinguishes one party from another. To encourage democracy there must be a storm of lively debate in which the nominating committee can base their options otherwise the political impotence of the parties will continue for ever.

 

 

Ibrahim Adam Ghalib

 

Borama, Somaliland

 

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