The Somaliland National electoral commission publicly said for the first time that holding the 13th November Presidential election is not possible citing technical and financial problems. This could pave way for President Bihi to extend his term in office.
The national electoral commission said they will need 9 months to conduct the elections starting from 1st October 2022. According to the constitution, the house of elders can only extend the term of office of the president after the electoral commission announces a time they could manage to hold the election, but, it’s not yet clear if the house will extend for the President the 9 months requested by the electoral commission or not.
The announcement of the electoral commission came barely a few days after the house of representatives approved a bill favoring combining the Presidential and political association election which still has stages to be approved by the house of elders and the President.
This is not the first time Somaliland’s national electoral commission has informed the public that they can not manage to hold a planned election as the country previously faced several election postponements due to numerous reasons, including technical and financial problems as well as droughts.
