President Silanyo “decides” to postpone the House of Representatives election indefinitely and pledges the presidential election to be held on time in a presidential decree circulated today afternoon by the Somaliland spokesman of the Presidency Mr. Hussein Adan Egeh “Deyr.”
The President blames the postponement of the House of Representatives election over the disagreement among national parties on the allocation of House of Representatives seats by regions.
The president also noted that he considered recommendations by Academy for Peace and Development (NGO that facilitates national parties negotiations) and Somaliland Non State Actors Forum “SONSAF”.
President Siilaanyo urged the House of Representatives to endorse his decision.
According to Somaliland constitution, the President can propose but has no authority to postpone elections. However, it appears that he is referring to a request from the three national parties in which they asked him to decide the allocation of seats of House of Representatives by regions on behalf of them following their disagreement on the matter.
Nonetheless, it is not clear if the President has gone too far and the opposition parties are yet to comment the decision.
The President also indicated that he is going to appoint a committee that could help him decide on how Somaliland’s six regions should share the 82 seats of the House of Representatives.
