Voters in Somaliaâs breakaway republic of Somaliland on Thursday cast their ballots to elect members of parliament with the hope the exercise will boost its chance of world recognition as a state independent of a nation in chaos. Since the region declared its independence from Somali proper in 1991, the election is the third since multiparties were allowed in 2000 and the first to elect members of parliament.Amid high police deployment, days after police raided an alleged Al-Qaeda base in the capital Hargeisa, about 800,000 out of Somalilandâs estimated 3.5 million population are eligible to cast their ballots to elect 82 MPs. Some 985 polling stations open at 6:00 am and close at 6:00 pm, according to Somaliland Electoral Commission (SNC) Chairman Ahmed Adami. More than 100 accredited observers from South Africa, European Commission and other independent monitors will participate in the exercise, the poll panel said.
Officials said police officers have been deployed across the region to beef up security, nearly a week after authorities arrested a senior Al-Qaeda operative allegedly planning to organize attacks on local leaders and foreigners. âMore police officers have already been deployed and many more will patrol the streets in case of electoral violence or saboteurs plan nasty acts,â said one top police official, who is charged with ensuring that the voting is smooth.
Some observers expect the exercise would help Somaliland to gain international recognition as an independent state, free from Somalia proper where a growing dispute over the seat of that government hampering efforts to restore a functional administration to end 14 years of disorder. In the past, the international community has repeatedly spurned Somalilandâs quest for recognition, fearing this could exacerbate instability in the already highly volatile Horn of Africa. The ruling party Union of Democrats (UDUB) and the opposition groups the Hisbiga Kulmiye (Solidarity Party) and Justice and Welfare Party (UCID) -- which lost in the 2003 presidential elections -- agree that it is time to recognise their nation. All sides claim credit for Somalilandâs decision to secede from the fractured larger state in May 1991 after the ouster of strongman Mohamed Siad Barre plunged much of the country into a patchwork of unruly fiefdoms run by fractious warlords and their militias. On other matters, the UDUB and its political foes rarely see eye-to-eye.