President and opposition leaders meet to resolve election delays

Hargeisa – Somaliland- Somaliland opposition leaders today met with President Bihi to break the deadlock over the overdue local and parliamentary elections.

President Muse Bihi received the chairmen of UCID and Waddani parties, Faisal Ali Warabe and Abdirahman Irro at his office. This follows a prolonged political crisis caused by entrenched disagreements on the formation of the electoral commission which oversees elections in the country.

In a brief statement, the president’s office said the leaders discussed the most appropriate and plausible time for holding elections. The presidency added that opposition leaders and President Bihi discussed the proposals of the mediation committee that volunteered to break the prolonged deadlock. 

The mediation committee had proposed the dismissal of the current electoral commission and reinstating the previous one to lead the nation to polls. Both the government and the opposition parties had declared their acceptance of the proposal. However, the statement of the president’s office today did not mention any discussion on the implementation of the committee’s proposals.

The main opposition party, WADDANI, chairman Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro said in a tweet that the leaders of opposition parties “had their first meeting with Somaliland president Muse Bihi on Monday and had fruitful discussions over implementation of the clauses of the mediation committee’s resolution to end the standoff on parliamentary and local elections”.