Somaliland: Political Parties verification Begins
According to Mr. Abdirizaq Jama Omar the chairperson of the PPV&RC two teams from his office will start conducting verification activities from the 12th Feb 2012, with one team undertaking its activities in the Eastern regions and the other one in western regions of the country.
The PPV&RC teams mandate revolves around verifying if the newly registered 15 political parties and 3 existing ones have:
• Functioning district and regional offices
• A list of registered members at these levels
During a press conference held at the committee offices, chairperson Abdirizaq revealed the political groups found wanting in the areas under inspection will not be allowed to proceed to the final phase of campaigning for local government seats in forthcoming elections.
"Though the political groups were registered after payment of the prerequisite $20,000, this is a provisional arrangement for they have to fulfill other criteria before the final approval' said the chairperson
The PPV&RC asked all parties to ensure that respective party district and regional branch officials are on hand thus ease of verification.
The anticipation of this verification undertaking by the committee has seen hectic activity from the 18 political groups crisscrossing the countrywide where they have opened offices, registered members and nominated branch officials.
While the parties have opened offices in regional capital cities it remains to be seen what the inspection comes out with as pertains to functionality since most office opening undertakings have been haphazard and only publicity stunts thus devoid of proper legality.
The groups that receive the nod after this inspection will enter the hardest hurdle of their short life when they embark on vying for local council elections. The three leading groups in the council elections will automatically became the country's official national political parties in pursuant of the constitution which dictates that only three political parties can be registered at one given period.
The three political parties to be registered after council elections will then be eligible to vie for parliamentary and presidential elections.
The opening of political groups was a campaign pledge of the current ruling Kulmiye party during the last presidential election race. True to his words and despite arguments to the contrary president Silanyo made the registration possible 4 months ago after parliament amended the elections laws.
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