SOMALIA: Demonstrations in Puntland State of Somalia
September 22, 2012 01:47 1 Comments
Hundreds of protesters assembled on Friday in Somalia’s semi autonomous Puntland to demonstrate against the President’s plans to extend his term in office for another one year.
The demonstration took place in Gardo town of Karkaar region after the arrival of some members of the electoral commission of Puntland.
The demonstrators gathered in the Town center and set fire to tyres on the road while chanting “No 5 Years”.
Hundreds of protesters chanting slogans and carrying boards with different messages streamed into the town bringing business to a stand still and Shops remained closed.
This comes just a month before the end of the term of the current Parliament of Puntland, 0n 30th of October. The presidential elections were also expected to be held on 8th of January 2013.
However the current government is planning to extend its term in office, by rescheduling the elections dates.
On 9 September, the electoral commission of Puntland has officially announced the start date of registering the political parties in Puntland, which it says will be concluded on February 2013.
Many people say the government is trying to take advantage of the democratization process by delaying the whole process in previous years and by launching the new campaign now to register political parties in Puntland just three months before the Presidential elections, in a move seen as another attempt at prolonging the President’s term in office.
President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole took office in January 2009 and his term of 4 years in office will end on 8th of January 2013.
In his campaing in 2008 President Farole promised that within his first year in office, he will impalement the democratizations process by allowing multi party system, registering the citizens and holding a referendum on the new constitution. Now less than 4 months are remaining of his four years term in office.
On Wednesday, five major clans in Bari Region called on the government not to postpone the elections in 2013, they also rejected the governments plans to hold the first multi party elections in only just 21 districts instead of the 37 districts of Puntland state of Somalia.
Puntland State of Somalia an autonomous region, has been relatively peaceful but in the recent past, residents have expressed fear of escalating insecurity.
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