Opposition parties vow not to work with president Muse Bihi

Hargeisa (Somaliland) – Somaliland Opposition Parties Waddani and UCID have vowed not to work with the president of the Republic of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi in order to end the political dispute surrounding the newly sworn Electoral commissioners.

The parties say they will only wait for the volunteer mediation committee to spearhead the negotiations with the president.

The party leaders of Waddani and UCID Parties have expressed dissatisfaction with the president Muse Bihi’s leadership and vowed not to work with him.

The two leaders who held a meeting in UCID party’s headquarters in the capital Hargeisa, also said the president’s speech and actions don’t go hand in hand.

They have turned down an invitation from the president to have a meeting in a bid to discuss events that they say have significantly undermined commitments to the detriment of Somaliland’s democratic credentials and international standing.

The chairman of UCID party Feisal Ali Warabe who spoke on behalf of the two parties said it is the responsibility of the president to hold a parliamentary and local election on time.

Mr Feisal Warabe added that the president’s long term goal is to extend his presidential term when it ends in 2022.

The chairman of UCID party Feisal Ali Warabe who addressed the media after a meeting with Waddani party leader Abdirahman Inro also said if the president will not hold elections on time, the opposition will regard him as the president and will charter a way forward for their supporters.

President Muse Bihi had appealed to the opposition parties, to convey a meeting to resolve the issue of the overdue election. He called the opposition parties for a meeting early next week to resolve the contested issues that led to an election deadlock.

The stalemate between the ruling party Kulmiye and opposition parties continue even after Somaliland’s international partners called on the government and all political actors to reaffirm, through both words and deeds, the long-standing culture of mutual agreement, consensus and compromise, to find a way through this current impasse in order for both parliamentary and local elections to take place without any further delay, well before the end of the calendar year 2020.