Somaliland Holds Presidential Poll

Photographed by Saxafi Media Network reporters, M-Amiin Jibril and Abdifatah Aidied

Posted : Sat, 26 Jun 2010

By: dpa

Hargeysa, Somaliland,- Voting got underway Saturday in presidential elections in the self-proclaimed republic of Somaliland.

Thousands of voters queued outside polling stations, some arriving two hours before the polls opened. The election had been postponed three times since April 2008.

Incumbent Dahir Rayale Kahin is facing opposition party leader Ahmed Mahamoud Silanyo in his bid for a second five-year term.

Both have pledged to seek international recognition for the territory on the Horn of Africa that once was an Italian colony. The elections are regarded as a crucial step to this end.

Many voters expect Silanyo, who heads the opposition Peace, Unity and Development Party (Kulmiye), to win. In Somaliland's first presidential elections in 2003, he had lost against Rayale and his United Peoples' Democratic Party (UDUB) by just 80 votes.

Thousands of policemen patrolled the streets Saturday, while 26 observer teams monitored voting at just under 2,000 polling stations, where some 1 million voters are registered to cast their ballots.

"In general, the polling started peacefully throughout the country. However, six ballot boxes have been stolen in two remote villages in the east of the country, close to the border with Puntland," Michael Walls, the international election observer mission coordinator, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"A few hundred people wont be able to vote. But this will not seriously affect the polling or its outcome," he added.

The elections are taking place amid fears that Somalia's main rebel group, Al-Shabaab, could attempt to violently disrupt the polling process. The group, which has links to al-Qaeda, has warned the inhabitants of Somaliland to stay away from the polls.

Al-Shabaab leader Sheikh Mukhtar Abdurahman Abu Zubayr has condemned the practice of democracy and elections, saying that it is incompatible with Islam.

"It is dangerous to run this world through human fashioned techniques," he said in a 20-minute audio message.

Rayale told dpa that "security forces are very alert."

The people of Somaliland also fear the possibility of post- election violence if his challenger, Silanyo, fails to win.

"In the days before the elections, many senior members of the ruling party defected to us. They are leaving the sinking ship. I expect a landslide victory for me," Silanyo said.

The National Electoral Commission is expected to announce provisional results on Monday.

Somalia and Somaliland merged into one state in 1960, after gaining independence from Britain and Italy respectively.

Somaliland seceded from Somalia in 1991 when the country descended into civil war. Unlike the rest of Somalia, the autonomous region has remained relatively peaceful and stable, but poverty is widespread.

Source: DPA