Mediation Committee calls for dismissal of new Electoral Commission

Hargeisa (Somaliland.com) – The mediation committee that volunteered to resolve the electoral dispute between the government and opposition parties announced their recommendation today. 

It recommended dismissing the controversial electoral commission which was sworn-in just last month. The committee reasoned that the electoral commission has associated itself with controversy from day one. The committee further called for reinstituting the previous electoral commission because of their experience in conducting elections.

The committee claimed that they had met with the sides of the dispute five times and that their recommendations consider the arguments of both sides.

However, the committee did not meet with President Muse Bihi whom the opposition parties consider the other side of the dispute. 

In their last meeting with the mediation committee, the opposition parties asserted that their disagreement with President Bihi and not with Kulmiye Party. The committee, however, told the opposition parties that they had the arguments and propositions of Kulmiye Party. The meeting ended without any breakthrough, as the opposition parties did not recognize Kulmiye party the decision-maker in this disagreement.