Danish Ambassador shows optimism on resolving electoral commission dispute – Opposition Official

Hargeisa (Somaliland.com) – The Danish Ambassador to Somalia, Mette Knudsen,  told Somaliland’s opposition parties her optimism of a near solution to the protracted deadlock over the national electoral commission.

This came in a meeting between the opposition parties and the Danish Ambassador in Hargeisa yesterday.

UCID party’s vice presidential candidate Ahmed Abdi Muse Abyan said the  ambassador conveyed to them a sense of optimism from her meeting with the president Muse Bihi Abdi.

Professor Abyan told CBA TV that he shared the optimism of the ambassador since the electoral crisis has reached its zenith.  He also reasoned that the controversial electoral commission by now have realized that they cannot oversee a national election.

The opposition official  stressed that Somaliland is technically and financially ready to hold an election this year. On the other hand, he warned of dire consequences if the country doesn’t go to elections this year. He indicated that the electoral impasse has precipitated disappointment and disillusionment in some sectors of the public. 

The latest attempt to break the deadlock over the elections commission reached a dead end earlier this month when president Bihi rejected to dismiss the current elections commission. The dismissal of the controversial electoral body was the first of three-point compromise proposed by an independent mediation committee. The president argued that he had no legal grounds to disband a duly sworn-in election commission.