Somaliland parliamentary election, 2005

Somaliland held elections to an 82-member House of Representatives on 29 September 2005. It was the first multiparty parliamentary election conducted in the unrecognized breakaway republic since 1991, when Somalia descended into civil war and Somaliland declared its independence.

Political parties

The Somaliland Constitution limits the number of political parties to three, all of which will compete in the election. Various sources provide different translations of political party names. They are:

*Peace, Unity, and Development Party ("Kulmiye Nabad, Midnimo iyo horumar", also known as Solidarity / The Gathering / Union and Development), The party chairman is Ahmed Mohamed Mohamud Silanyo
*For Justice and Development ("Ururka Caddaalada iyo Daryeelka", also known as the Justice and Welfare Party). The party chairman is Faysal Ali Warabe
*For Unity, Democracy, and Independence ("Ururka dimuqraadiga ummadda bahawday", also known as Allied People's Democratic Party / United Democratic People's Party / National Alliance Democratic Party / Pillar). The party chairman is Dahir Riyale Kahin, who is the current President of Somaliland.

There are a total of 246 candidates - including 5 women contesting the election.

Electoral system

According to Somaliland's House of Representatives Election Law, every party that contests the election is required to submit a list of its candidates to the National Electoral Commission. The names of the candidates shall be set out in a sequential order, and shall relate to each region on the basis of the number of seats allocated to each region. The seats allocated to each electoral region shall be won by the parties on the basis of proportional representation system as reflected by the votes cast for each party in the region

Final results

A team of 76 observers from Canada, Finland, Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zimbabwe monitored the polls. They described that the elections were conducted in a peaceful condition and were generally free and fair, nonetheless, the vote had fallen short of meeting several international standards.

ee also

*Somalia
**History of Somalia
**Politics of Somalia

External links

* [http://www.somalilandelectoralcommission.org/ Somaliland Electoral Commission]
* [http://africanelections.tripod.com/somaliland.html Elections in Somaliland - African Elections Database]
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1105AP_Somalia_Breakaway_Republic.html "Seattle P-I" - "Ruling party wins Somaliland elections"]
* [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/eb5f287ce5656bc3775472e08e22578f.htm "Reuters" - "Ruling party wins Somaliland parliamentary polls"]