Historic Voter Registration

It appears 2009 was a great year for Somaliland democracy as the voter registration had successfully completed by the National Electoral Commission in all six regions of Somaliland: Saaxil, Awdal, Maroodi Jeex (Hargeisa) Toghdeer, Sanaag and Sool. This unique program in African history remained defiant and undeterred by the heinous Al-Shabaab/Al Qaeda inspired terrorist attacks of Oct 29 2008 in Hargeisa which were aimed to shatter Somaliland dreams of achieving recognition through peaceful good governance and development in a region where such noble ideals cannot be taken for granted. To insure the validity of the process and the accuracy of the voter’s eligibility across the Republic of Somaliland, indelible ink, biometric technology, i.e. Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) were used. The process outcome will be certified after careful review within the next few weeks. Citizens who registered obtained: a civil ID card and a voter registration card. An additional 15 day grace period has been added in the whole country to accommodate those who did not manage to register during the official period of registration. The registration campaign is yet another historic milestone that will further strengthen Somaliland’s democracy in general but particularly in view of the upcoming 2009 presidential and local assembly’s elections.

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