Read this article from puntlandi, which is usual pro-farole.
http://puntlandi.com/a-joint-statement- ... n-process/
A Joint Statement by Puntland Political Associations about the Current Democratization Process
A Joint Statement by Puntland Political Associations about the Current Democratization Process
25th March 2013, Garowe
To: His Excellency, Dr. Abdirahman Mohamud, President of Puntland State of Somalia
Cc: Chairman of Puntland Transitional Electoral Commission
Cc: Director of DFID, Somalia
Cc: UK Ambassador to Somalia
Cc: EU Special Representative to Somalia,
Cc: UN Secretary General Special Representative to Somalia
Subject: Resolving Local Municipality Elections Stalemate
With the government of Puntland ‘s announcement about a year ago that that a true multiparty system will come into play in Puntland , starting this year, in order that every citizen could have a final say about the shape of Puntland’s next government, we decided to be part of that process with all the due raw and disagreements that followed about the validity of the fifth year of this administration. However, with all patience exercised up to now by our political associations, we would not whatsoever compromise on our principles towards achieving a fair and transparent democratization process that can uphold the wishes and the interests of our people for deciding the fate of their future.
Relating to the above, Mr. President as you are well aware, the government of Puntland has submitted two days ago a new draft of local council’s elections law to the Parliament. The objective of this motion is to remove/ modify around 21 articles in the current law; some of them are decisive and crucial, in an extra ordinary session of the House of Representative that is currently underway. These desired changes will completely alter among others the following:
1) Article 3, section 1; that every voter must hold an ID card which defines that s/he is a citizen of Puntland State of Somalia i.e. there will be no conditions restricting the status of each voting individual in Puntland
2) Article 4, section 1; that each holder of a Puntlander ID card has a right to vote in the nearest place to her/him during the voting day if s/he has already included in the voters registration list.
However, with due respect to Puntland state institutions, the revealed justification for this motion is to quickly facilitate without any pre-conditions the voting process of local councils that is planned to take place in May this year, with no consideration whatsoever to the consequences that will result from such actions.
On contrary to that, we as political associations strongly believe that the removal or alteration of these articles from the local council’s elections laws will undoubtedly nullify the fairness and the transparency of the proposed elections and would lead to fraud results. Emphasizing on that, the undersigned political associations will not in any way:
Accept to be part of an election process that would certainly mislead the opinion of our people and distort their choices. Or else contribute as accomplices to corrupted election results that would undoubtedly put our region in the hands of devil and cause civil unrest and internal clans fighting.
Opposing that, we propose the following as a basis for lasting solution to the local election crises in Puntland:
That the government must combine its maximum effort together with attracting donor support in order of speeding the voter registration system and distribution of Puntland IDs , since the obligation of the government had not been fully geared in the last eight months in order of realizing this target.
That all political associations, PTEC and Puntland government must come together in a meeting to look for common understanding on outstanding issues and resolve this matter in a way that serves the interest of our people.
That since the electoral commission has not exercised any neutrality on the disputed points over the past few months; an alternative option to form another new commission is of high priority to most of our political associations.
That local municipal election must be delayed until the government ensures that ID system got firmly in place and voter registration list established. This will take a maximum of four months after discussing it with local ID professional companies.
That a constitutional court ought to be established before the election date to arbiter any disputes that arises during voting days.
In case that local municipality elections failed to organize as per the plan outlined in PTEC road map due to lack of voter registration data base, we propose a two year transitional government that takes over authority starting from the end of this year. The main mandate of this new caretaker government is to focus the completion of the democratization process which is already underway in Puntland in a span of not more than two year’s period.
