Introducing Pirate Elections: Puntland's No IDs, No registration Polls.

[AYOUB]

Imam Faroole's term is running out and according to the Unholy Trinity formula - it's Omar's cartel turn to rule Puntland. Or is it? Well, the current leader of buccaneering "ku dayo, ku dayo" friends has decided to experiment with democracy with a pirate twist instead.

[AYOUB]

A Joint Statement by Puntland Political Associations about the Current Democratization Process

 

 

 

25th March 2013, Garowe

 

To: His Excellency, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamud, President of Puntland State of Somalia

 

Cc: Chairman of Puntland Transitional Electoral Commission

 

Cc: Director of DFID, Somalia

 

Cc: UK Ambassador to Somalia

 

Cc: EU Special Representative to Somalia,

 

Cc: UN Secretary General Special Representative to Somalia

 

Subject: Resolving Local Municipality Elections Stalemate

 

With the government of Puntland ‘s announcement about a year ago that that a true multiparty system will come into play in Puntland , starting this year, in order that every citizen could have a final say about the shape of Puntland’s next government, we decided to be part of that process with all the due raw and disagreements that followed about the validity of the fifth year of this administration. However, with all patience exercised up to now by our political associations, we would not whatsoever compromise on our principles towards achieving a fair and transparent democratization process that can uphold the wishes and the interests of our people for deciding the fate of their future.

Relating to the above, Mr. President as you are well aware, the government of Puntland has submitted two days ago a new draft of local council’s elections law to the Parliament. The objective of this motion is to remove/ modify around 21 articles in the current law; some of them are decisive and crucial, in an extra ordinary session of the House of Representative that is currently underway. These desired changes will completely alter among others the following:

 

1) Article 3, section 1; that every voter must hold an ID card which defines that s/he is a citizen of Puntland State of Somalia i.e. there will be no conditions restricting the status of each voting individual in Puntland

 

2) Article 4, section 1; that each holder of a Puntlander ID card has a right to vote in the nearest place to her/him during the voting day if s/he has already included in the voters registration list.

However, with due respect to Puntland state institutions, the revealed justification for this motion is to quickly facilitate without any pre-conditions the voting process of local councils that is planned to take place in May this year, with no consideration whatsoever to the consequences that will result from such actions.

 

On contrary to that, we as political associations strongly believe that the removal or alteration of these articles from the local council’s elections laws will undoubtedly nullify the fairness and the transparency of the proposed elections and would lead to fraud results. Emphasizing on that, the undersigned political associations will not in any way:

 

Accept to be part of an election process that would certainly mislead the opinion of our people and distort their choices

Or else contribute as accomplices to corrupted election results that would undoubtedly put our region in the hands of devil and cause civil unrest and internal clans fighting.

Opposing that, we propose the following as a basis for lasting solution to the local election crises in Puntland:

 

That the government must combine its maximum effort together with attracting donor support in order of speeding the voter registration system and distribution of Puntland IDs , since the obligation of the government had not been fully geared in the last eight months in order of realizing this target.

That all political associations, PTEC and Puntland government must come together in a meeting to look for common understanding on outstanding issues and resolve this matter in a way that serves the interest of our people.

That since the electoral commission has not exercised any neutrality on the disputed points over the past few months; an alternative option to form another new commission is of high priority to most of our political associations.

That local municipal election must be delayed until the government ensures that ID system got firmly in place and voter registration list established. This will take a maximum of four months after discussing it with local ID professional companies.

That a constitutional court ought to be established before the election date to arbiter any disputes that arises during voting days.

In case that local municipality elections failed to organize as per the plan outlined in PTEC road map due to lack of voter registration data base, we propose a two year transitional government that takes over authority starting from the end of this year. The main mandate of this new caretaker government is to focus the completion of the democratization process which is already underway in Puntland in a span of not more than two year’s period.

[Somalia]

Your mathematical formula is simply FLAWED! :cool:

[Mintid Farayar]

Mintid Farayar;939700 wrote:

The May 15 local elections in Puntland were recently postponed indefinitely. This adversely affects the expected January 2014 selection of a new President for Puntland. Faroole's decision to extend his term, the lack of an electoral register(part of the original plan), and mistrust between the different sub-clans is contributing to a growing unease below the surface.

 

This issue does not receive the attention it deserves among Puntland expatriate websites due to the attention paid to the Jubba project (in order to limit the growing power of Mogadishu). As for the internal media within Puntland,.... Faroole has long banned all unfriendly media outlets starting with the radio stations.

 

When it comes to the emerging political organizations within this Puntland democratization experiment, Midnimo, with its Bari-constituency remains the only serious challenge thus far to Faroole's Horseed.

 

http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/70737-Former-Somalia-PM-Ina-Gaas-Joins-Udad-Party?p=939700#post939700

[AYOUB]

^ That's interesting.

 

Somalia;940224 wrote:

Your mathematical formula is simply FLAWED! :cool:

Right. Give us your expert opinion on the federal pirate polls.

[Mintid Farayar]

Ayoub,

 

Our brothers from the East continuously show no interest in their traditional homeland, Puntland, except as a mere bargaining chip to relocate to greener pastures, whether it's Mogadishu last season or the Jubba Valley this season. I refer in particular to the huge diaspora of that community which never had a strong tie with their ancestral Puntland. Most were driven out of Mogadishu and its environs(post 1990) and hold no love for the harsh lifestyle of Bari, Nugaal, or Mudug. Case in point: even after years of relative peace, you hardly hear of an entire Puntland family from the diaspora moving back to Puntland, only the men return to pursue business opportunities. It's more realistic to imagine mass diaspora migration to Mogadishu and surrounding cities in the South in the next decade than the towns of Puntland.

 

Note: an oil find by the recent wildcatters in Puntland could have changed this trajectory, but unfortunately for our Eastern brothers, that 'get-rich-scheme' failed with a silent wimper...

[Somalia]

My expert opinion.

 

Well, lets start off by correcting obsessed yet uninformed secessionists, a daunting task but I shall take it upon myself nevertheless.

 

There's no such thing as a rotating seat, it's a fiction. The seat was given in a traditional way, the largest gets chosen first. It's a very stable system, it's natural law, simple xeer law.

 

Secondly, registration has not been put off, however IDs have. If we look at the greatest democracy of our time, the United States of America, people do not use IDs to vote and voter fraud is almost non-existent, I think the statistics was 0.003% but I shall get back to you on that.

 

If you look at the US today, they are debating Voter ID laws which could disenfranchise minority populations, cause they are less likely to have IDs. So it isn't a must to have IDs to vote.

 

But in a secessionists mind, we find faults where none exist. Personally I believe the implementation of western democracy is very flawed in our traditional homeland but hey, you just got to go with the times, mate.

[Somalia]

Mintid Farayar;940242 wrote:

Ayoub,

 

Case in point:

even after years of relative peace, you hardly hear of an entire Puntland family from the diaspora moving back to Puntland

, only the men return to pursue business opportunities.

Oh ok, so put otherwise, Puntland kids are not in need of dhaqancelis like our kids, to that I say salute.

[Che -Guevara]

^lol

[AYOUB]

Somalia;940245 wrote:

My expert opinion.

 

Well, lets start off by correcting obsessed yet uninformed secessionists, a daunting task but I shall take it upon myself nevertheless.

 

There's no such thing as a rotating seat, it's a fiction. The seat was given in a traditional way, the largest gets chosen first. It's a very stable system, it's natural law, simple xeer law.

Semantics. Call it natural, simple or stable - the elders rotated the seat between Omar, Osman and Isseh Trinity Cartels.

 

Somalia;940245 wrote:

Secondly, registration has not been put off, however IDs have.

Oh I chose to believe the two political parties boycotting the Pirate Polls over you. Check the link.. http://puntlandnews24.com/doorashooyinkii-golaha-deegaanka-puntland-oo-dib-loo-dhigay-dhagayso/

 

Somalia;940245 wrote:

If we look at the greatest democracy of our time, the United States of America, people do not use IDs to vote and voter fraud is almost non-existent, I think the statistics was 0.003% but I shall get back to you on that.

We're not talking about the "land of the free" but the capital of human smuggling, hub of pirates and centre for currency counterfeiting. Even Uncle Sam demands IDs in some States like the Pirate infested Ohio. http://www.sos.state.oh.us/elections/Voters/FAQ/ID.aspx

[Somalia]

AYOUB;940283 wrote:

Semantics. Call it natural, simple or stable - the elders rotated the seat between Omar, Osman and Isseh Trinity Cartels.

How is it semantics when you just confirmed what I said, indeed it is natural in Somalia for the leadership position to go down from top to bottom in size. It's called xeer and has proven stable.

 

Unlike Somaliland, Puntland doesn't front any minorities for pointless goals such as Riyaale in the name of recognition. Failed it did of course, as usual, ironically calling others the defeated lot. *smh*

 

AYOUB;940283 wrote:

Oh I chose to believe the two political parties boycotting the Pirate Polls over you. Check the link..

http://puntlandnews24.com/doorashooyinkii-golaha-deegaanka-puntland-oo-dib-loo-dhigay-dhagayso/

This one, my God.

 

Voting is not even POSSIBLE without registration. And it says it will be held in June, while your secessionist colleague posts an old link which says it is postponed indefinitely.

 

So explain to us, why would they hold an election without voters?

 

AYOUB;940283 wrote:

We're not talking about the "land of the free" but the capital of human smuggling, hub of pirates and centre for currency counterfeiting. Even Uncle Sam demands IDs in some States like the Pirate infested Ohio.

http://www.sos.state.oh.us/elections/Voters/FAQ/ID.aspx

If the world's best democracy doesn't use IDs, then why do you hold it against the 'capital of human smuggling blah blah blah'?

 

Please answer me that. Also you as a Somalilander or whatever had trouble in that department, I remember children being able to get voter IDs, what an example you are setting for the rest of us, oh MIGHTY Somaliland ahead of us in voter fraud. :cool:

[D.O.C]

Here we go with the land of thieves mimicking somaliland once again.

[Che -Guevara]

^ Thieves?

[D.O.C]

^ How do you define the word " pirates"?

[Che -Guevara]

^Not yet successful navy but your insults towards of people of Puntland is noted.