Elections in Somaliland

[Blessed]

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But it looks like we'r gonna be stuck with UDUB for another term!

[Libaax-Sankataabte]

Ameenah you don't look too happy. I know you wanted Kulmiye to win but Riyaale is the man girl.

Just live with it.

 

Free and fair elections.

[N.O.R.F]

Somaliland votes for its leader

 

 

Delegations from the EU and US are observing the polls

Voters are going to the polls in the self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland, with all three presidential candidates promising peace and recognition by the international community.

Early reports on Monday suggested brisk voting, with more than a million voters eligible to cast their ballots, in the country's first multi-party presidential election.

 

The current leader of Somaliland, Dahir Riyaale Kahin, is being challenged by candidates from two opposition parties.

 

Mr Kahin took office last year, following the death of the long-standing leader of the breakaway republic, Mohamed Egal, in May.

 

 

Somaliland announced its secession in 1991, as the rest of Somalia descended into anarchy.

 

Mr Egal was elected president two years later, but the territory has never won international recognition.

 

Main challenger

 

The three parties have given themselves names in the Somali language. They are:

 

 

the ruling UDUB, or United Peoples Party

the Kulmiye party, which translates bringing people together

the UCID or Welfare and Development Party.

 

 

Somaliand's leader voted this morning

 

The president's main challenger appears to be veteran Somali politician, Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo, of the Kulmiye party.

 

He was a major player in the united Somalia Government of Siad Barre in the 1980s. But he left to lead the Somali National Movement which fought against Barre and ousted him from what is now called Somaliland.

 

During the campaign UCID candidate Feisal Ali Waraabe expressed doubt that the election would be free and fair.

 

Although Somaliland has yet to gain international recognition, delegations from the UK, the US, South Africa, Ethiopia and the European Union will observe the polls.

 

The Election Commission chairman has criticised the authorities for not handing over all the promised funds to supervise the polls.

 

He has also expressed concern about a hostile atmosphere in the eastern areas.

[Blessed]

looooooool @ Libaax.

 

Judging from that picture Mr Riyaale doesn't look too happy either

[Gediid]

LST & Ameeneh

Ciyaar waa gelin dambe.UBUB can celebrate now but when the vote is complete its KULMIYE all the way.

GO KULMIYE ITS UR BIRTHDAY,we gonna party like its ur birthday.

 

 

[N.O.R.F]

we gone sip caano gaal like its yr birthday!

[qatari_1979]

slaam to you all

today is the day of all somalilanders and im so happy that so far so good going in back home somaliland .

im with the winners and is UCID PARTY

so i was hearing som people here was saying no vote in sool yo sanaag sxb u r dreaming and im from ceerigaabo capital of sanaag and i was talking to them there and they start voting 8 am this day so haters plz

somaliland is home of freedom that somalia desen't know it

anyways hanolato somaliland alahyo cadawgeda kala reed amiiin ya rabul al calamiin

[N.O.R.F]

"Our latest report says that polls around the country have closed and that voting went without incident," Hussein Hassan Gulet, director of national intelligence and immigration, told AFP after polls closed at around 6:00 pm.

 

Vote-counting began as soon as balloting ended. Results are due in the next few days.

 

Business at polling stations in the capital, Hargeisa, was brisk and enthusiastic. Several polling stations temporarily ran out of ballot papers early in the afternoon.

 

Women and men formed separate queues outside the polling stations.

 

The election marked a further widening of the gap between Somaliland, which unilaterally declared independence in 1991, and Somalia proper, which has had no effective central government for more than a decade and much of which is subject to the law of the guns wielded by rival clans.

 

The electoral commission said it expected more than 800,000 people to have voted Monday, out of a total population of around three million.

 

President Dahir Riyale Kahin of the Unity of Democrats (UDUB) Party, who hopes to be returned to the post he inherited from the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal -- who had been appointed to the job by a council of elders -- voted at the Civil Service Commission near the presidential palace.

 

His two opponents in the race, Ahmed Muhammad Silanyo of the Hisbiga Kulmiye (Solidarity Party) and Faisal Ali Warabe of the Justice and Restoration Party (UCID), also voted at the same polling station early in the day.

 

The crowd cheered the three candidates as they arrived, dipped the tips of their fingers on their right hands into indelible ink and registered, before voting.

 

Kahin has said he would keep trying to pursuade the international community to recognise Somaliland as an independent country.

 

From the early 1990's, as Somalia degenerated into anarchy, Somaliland built up many of the institutions of statehood.

 

It adopted provisional Constitution in 1997, which was ratified by a referendum in May 2001 and, as well as a president and government, boasts a police force, penal code, currency and customs.

 

Yet it has no seat at the United Nations general assembly and is unable to enter into bilateral or multilateral agreements with lenders. Its budget for this year is some 30 million dollars (28 million euros).

 

Only neighbouring Ethiopia has a diplomatic presence in this country at the top of the horn of Africa.

 

"My hope is that the international community will support this democratic progress," Kahin told AFP on the eve of polling day.

 

"We should be praised for this wonderful thing we are doing. The international community should give us credit for this and recognise us," he said.

 

"If the election takes place peacefully Somaliland should gain the recognition of peace-loving countries. Our children will then get scholarships to go other countries," Asha Liban, a mother of six, told AFP near a polling station.

 

"If there is peace and recognition, six of my children will be doctors, engineers and maybe prominent politicians," she added.

 

Dozens of international observers from 14 countries have arrived here to monitor the process. More than half of these observers are from South Africa, which currently chairs the African Union.

 

"Democracy was served here on Monday and the Somaliland people have spoken", visiting Canadian MP Jim Karygiannis told AFP.

 

"There was room for improvement, but a very good start was made," he said.

 

Source: AFP

 

Posted by EDT-Canada.

Email: news@somalilandnet.com

[Gediid]

Northener

 

I called up a friend of mine in California who went back for vacation and he told me there was Qiiro on everone's face as they came out of the voting booths.Everyone was ecstatic having been given the oppurtunity to express freely their right to vote for the leader of their choice.I asked him who he voted for and to my surprise he said UCID, markaas I told him Vote Khasaarey Dheh

 

[Blessed]

Who won! My sis called fromworkn said Kulmiye won but I can't seem to find anything online

Some1 please update me on the situation!

 

This is the latest on Jamhuuriya... the civilised humble way Slanders have conducted themselves yesterday just makes meproud of being a Slander.... snif,snif ... can some1 pass me a tissue!

 

 

http://www.jamhuuriya.info/index.php?art_id=169&categ=&expand=&file=view_article.tp

 

 

http://www.kulmiye.com/gallery/ibrowser.asp?cimg=27&page=next

[Gediid]

Ameeneh

The voting is underway right now.Will be out Insha Allah in a couple of days.

[Gediid]

Sorry I meant the counting of the vote is underway.By the way each party except UCID claim victory.

[N.O.R.F]

like i said b4, Kulmiye all the way (IA)

 

this waitin aint helpin!

[Gabbal]

As these "elections" are underway, the UN security council is adhering to Somalia's unity.

 

SOMALIA: UN discusses improving arms embargo implementation

NAIROBI, 15 Apr 2003 (IRIN) - The UN Security Council has discussed better ways of implementing the UN arms embargo on Somalia, according to a press statement issued on Monday.

 

The Council's proceedings followed a report presented late last month by the panel monitoring the embargo in which it said the embargo was consistently being breached. It recommended that the Council send a clear signal that all future violators would face sanctions.

 

The three-member Panel of Experts, investigating violations of the arms embargo on Somalia, was named by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last September. Last week its mandate was extended by the Council for another six months.

 

The Council expressed deep concern "about this continued flow of weapons and military equipment from sources outside Somalia, and called on all member states to support and cooperate with the panel in the implementation of its mandate".

 

The statement said Council members had reaffirmed the importance "of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence and unity of Somalia".

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=33487&SelectRegion=Horn_of_Africa&SelectCountry=SOMALIA

 

Unity for Somalia!

Unity for Somalia!

Unity for the Somali Republic!

 

Allah save our Souls.

[Gediid]

HornAfrique

Blah blah whatever.Ma ila qiyaamo ayaad wadi doontaa intaas.The whole idea of this thread was simply to illustrate the willpower of the people,but I guess that fell on deaf ears.