Garowe (PP News Desk) — One week after Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni had discussions with political parties, the Puntland Electoral Commission (PEC) today published an electoral schedule for the local government elections to be conducted in three remaining districts.
PEC designated 23 July 2024 as the day to conduct local government elections in Garowe, Dangorayo, and Godobjiiraan. The electoral schedule includes consultations, a dispute arbitration process, selection of candidates and campaigning by political parties. The winning parties will form the district council for each district. These elections will remove one of the obstacles in Puntland’s democratisation process. The outcomes of the elections will finalise the process through which Puntland moved to representation based on political parties. It saddles the incumbent government with the responsibility to create a space for all political stakeholders to strike a credible and transparent balance between the work of MPs in Puntland State Parliament, who were elected by traditional elders, and the role of district councillors, who were voted in by citizens.
Decentralisation is a key component of the democratisation process in Puntland. Negotiations between the Puntland State Government and political parties will begin after the elections are concluded in the three districts. Some political parties have already started consultations with their members about proposals to reform the Puntland State Parliament. “Political parties do not want to be seen as a servant of Kaah, the political party of President Deni. No party can claim to be a ruling party because no presidential elections have been held in Puntland,” said a political commentator in Garowe.
The role of the MPs in the new parliament alongside elected District Councillors representing parties is one of the constitutional hurdles that President Deni seeks to surmount. The political parties that have become a feature of Puntland politics limit the legislative capabilities of parliamentarians seen to be subservient to the executive branch of the government. In May 2023, Puntland conducted the second phase of local government elections, almost two years after the first pilot local government elections were held in Qardho, Ufayn, and Eyl.
© Puntland Post, 2024
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