Election Law No. 20/2001 and all its amendments: Consolidated Text as at 15 /9/ 2012
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THE PRESIDENTIAL AND LOCAL DISTRICT COUNCIL S ELECTIONS LAW 2001
(Law No. 20/2001) as a mended in 2009, 2010, 2011 & 2012 (Amendment
Schedules 1 to 5):
Somalilandlaw.com Unofficial Consolidation and translation :

The 2001 Election Law has been amended extensively by 5 Schedules from 2009
to 2012. This is a consolidated copy of the Law with all the relevant amendments
that have not since been repealed in serted in the text of the original version of the
Law. The changes affected 37 Articles (57% of the Law) , but many of the initial
amendments in Schedules 1 st and 2 nd which related to the voter registration
system have since been repealed by the 4 th and 5 th Schedules . A table o f the
articles affected by the each Amendments Schedule is attached at the back of this
consolidated text. Copies of the Law as originally passed in 2001 and of all the 5
Amendments Schedules are available at the Somaliland Electoral Laws webpage .

The footnotes identify the relevant amendments and also point out the links with
constitutional and other legal provisions, including the 2005 House of
Representatives Election Law and the Regulation of the Political Parties &
Associations Law (as amended in 2011). T he 2012 Election Code of Conduct for
the Political Parties/Associations was finalised on 13 September 2012 and I have
added the paragraphs of the Code which expand on the procedural aspects of the
voting as italicised footnotes to the relevant A rticles of the Law.

Ibrahim Hashi Jama
editor@somalilandlaw.com
1 5 September 2012

THE PRESIDENTIAL AND LOCAL ELECTION S LAW (LAW NO. 20/2001) AND
ALL ITS AMENDMENTS ( IN SCHEDULES 1 TO 5)
THE REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND
THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Having seen: Articles 9, 22, 25, 83 and 111 of the National Constitution of
the Republic of Somaliland;

Having considered: The need to move away from a (political) system based on
representation through the various commu nities and the
need to realise the long -awaited aspiration of the nation to
have free contests for positions of authority in the state;

HAS HEREBY APPROVED THIS LAW:

Article 1: Definitions
Election : means the sifting of candidates running for office by means of
majority votes cast by the relevant electorate.
Commission : means the highest committee responsible for the organisation
of and the decision -making in respect of the elections.

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Polling Station : means the place where a number of the members of the public
who reside near each other cast their votes.
Electoral Area: means the area which encompasses various polling stations
which are all set for voting in connection with two or more
specified candidates.
Agent: means the person appointed by an association/party to act as
its agent to follow the election activities at the polling station or
the electoral offices.
Candidate : means the person nominated by an association/party to contest
an election.
Voter : means the person who fulfils the conditio ns for voting and casts
his vote.
Local Council : means the council elected by the voters in a district to act as the
administrative and legislative local government in the district.
Electoral Region : means an area which covers a number of electoral districts.
Electoral District : means an area which includes at least one polling station.
Seat : means a position of authority which will be filled by one person
through an election.
Symbol/Symbols : means a unique logo or sign which identifies one
association/party.
List/Lists : means the names of candidates su bmitted by an
association/party and listed in sequential order . The sequence
of the names in the list has no legal significance
1.
Election Campaign : means the activities of the associations/parties and
candidates in competing for the understanding and support of
the voters.
Central Office : means the supreme headquarters for the management of the
election activities to be carried out by the Commission.
District Office: means the office which manages the polling stations in the
district.
Regional Office : means the office which manages the election activities in the
region.
Polling Station Office : means the office which manages the election activities at
the polling station.
Observ ers: mean the international or local inspectors accredited by the
Commission, who shall check that the election activities are
conducted properly.

Article 2: General Principles
This Law shall govern the election of local
2 Councils and the election of the
President and Vice -President.
1 This was changed by the 4th Amendments Schedule (2012). The list was previously “arranged
in the order in which they are to be elected” which signified the “ closed list” system of election for
local councils that has now been changed to an “ open list” s ystem in which the sequence of the
candidates in the list has no significance. A similar open list system was adopted in the 2005
House of Representatives Election Law (see Articles 1 and 12 of the 2005 Election Law ).
2 The law covers the elections of t he local district councils only. See also the definition of a “local
council” in Article 1 which confines the term to district councils. The Regional Councils currently
consist of appointed persons and the mayors of the elected district councils – Article 12 of the
Regions and Districts Law (law No. 23/2002, as amended)

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Article 3: Term of office
The term of office of the elected candidates shall be:
a) Five years for the President and the Vice -President.
3
b) Five years for the Local Councils.
4

Article 4: Membership of the local councils
The total membership of the Local Councils to be elected
5 shall be:
a) The Local Council of the Capital City, 25 members.
b) The Local Councils of category A Districts, 21 members.
c) The Local Councils of category B Districts, 17 members.
d) The Local Councils of category C Districts, 13 members.
e) The Local Councils of category D Districts, 09 members.

Article 5: Conditions relating to voters
6
1. He
7 must be a patrial citizen 8 of Somaliland.
3 Article 88 of the Constitution already sets out that the term of office of the President/Vice –
President is five years “beginning from the date that they are sworn into office”.
4 This is also set out in Article 111(7) of the Constitution and in Article 20 of the Regions and
Districts Law (Law No. 23/2002).
5 The districts and their assigned categories are set out in Article 6 of the Regions and Districts
Law (Law No. 23/2002) as amend ed in 2007, and are as follows: 6 Category A districts, other than
the capital city; 5 B districts; 11 C districts and 19 D districts (42 in total). Before its amendment,
Article 7(e) of the Regions & Districts Law stated clearly that “ with the exception of the residents
of Hagal District who shall vote in the District of Berbera of the Sahil Region, all the residents of
the new (Grade D) districts shall cast their votes in the first local elections for the local councils of
the districts out of which the new districts have been gauged ”. This express confirmation of where
the votes of the residents of “D” districts would go has to be inferred now from the amended
Article 7(4) to 7(7) which state that until the “D” districts have been assessed and their borders
delineated, the Government shall appoint for them a small administration unit consisting of
Chairman, Deputy and an Executive Secretary; that theirs borders would be confined to those of
the districts they were separated from; and that they would have district councils after their
b orders are delineated and their assessments are undertaken within 12 months of the
implementation of the Law in 2007 . No such delineations or assessments have been made thus far
(as at August 2012), and as they shall have no district councils yet, then th e assumption is that
their residents shall continue to vote for their previous A to C districts.
Similar considerations apply to the 16 “D” districts created by Presidential Decrees on 23 March
2008 as all the Decrees made it clear that the announcements would have no effect on the
“forthcoming” elections. This was a reference to the local district councils’ elections that have
since been delayed and are now to be held in November 2012.
6 This Article’s Clauses were enumerated in numerical order (1, 2 etc) when the law was first
passed but a t draft copy of the original law recently published by the House on its website lists
the Clauses of this Article, as well as Articles 15 and 16 in alphabetical order. I have retained the
numerical order, which is a lso used in the Amendments Schedules.
7 It is trite to state that ‘he’ includes ‘she’ throughout this Law. Note also Article 8 of the
Constitution which gives all citizens equality of rights and obligations before the law regardless of
gender, birth, status etc.
8 Article 22(2) of the Constitution also states that “every citizen who fulfils the requirements of the
Law shall have the right to be elected (to an office) and to vote”. Article 4 of the Constitution
defines citizenship on grounds of patriality (i.e. descent from a person residing in Somaliland on
26 June 1960 or earlier) and confirms that the law shall determine the acquisition and loss of
Somaliland citizenship. The Somaliland Citizenship Law (Law No. 22/2002) sets out both the
patriality principle and the rules relating to naturalisation (i.e. ten years residence, surrender of
other nationality, etc.). Naturalised citizens and others, like wives who acquire citizenship under
the Citizenship Law, have, as citizens, the right to vote. Any diffe rential treatment of citizens in

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2. He must not be less than 16 years of age during the ye ar 9 the elections are
being held.
3. He must be free and not in prison.
4. Deleted .
10
5. The candidates for the offices of President and Vice President may cast their
vote at any polling station, but the electoral officers shall so register them
11.

Article 6: Rights of the voter
Every voter who fulfils the conditions set out in the law(s) shall have the right to:
1. Deleted.
12
2. A voter who is away from the territory of the Republic of Somaliland shall cast
his vote at the nearest diplomatic office of the Republic of Somaliland, but the
Commission shall decide whether that is available or feasible.
13
3. Voting shall be personal, free, direct, and secret, and all votes shall be given
equal weighting.
4. Each voter shall have only one vote for each election.
5. The members of the Electoral Commission shall not be entitled to vote while
in office.
6. The polling station officials, the agents of the political parties at the polling
station and the members of the police force that have been formally assigned
to keep the order at the polling station can vote at the station that they have
been assigned on the polling day .
14

Article 7: Employees of the state and of governmental bodies

connection with this basic democratic right is likely to be contrary to Article 25 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and Article 13 of the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights 1981. It was no surprise, therefore, that by the time the 2005 Election
Law was passed, this issue was addressed and the comparable Article in that Law (Article 5(1))
includes the additional phrase “or a naturalised citizen in accordance with the Citizenship Law”.
This is an improvement, but it would have been more comprehensive if the change covered not
just all naturalised citizens, but all persons who “acquired citizenship in accordance with the
Citizenship Law”, which would also cover, for example, wives who ac quire citizenship through
Article 9 of the Citizenship or children who acquire it under Article 10 of the same Law. [Although
in th e forthcoming November 2012 local d istricts councils election will be conducted without a
voter s register as confirmed by Am endment (No. 3) (2011) of the Voter Registration Law, the
Voter Registration Law 2007 confined the right to cast votes to “citizens” who have registered
themselves and citizens were defined as any person who fulfilled the conditions set out in the
2002 Citizenship Law. Perhaps similar words can be used when an official consolidated electoral
law is finally promulgated.] 9 The choice of this imprecise phrase in this Law as well as in the 2005 Election Law, has, in my
view, more to do with the Somali custom of identifying age by year and season, rather than by
date, as there was (and is) no comprehensive birth registration.
10 Deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 11 This Clause was inserted by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). It relates to the presidential
election which was based on a voters’ register. It has no relevance to the forthcoming 2012 local
elections when, without an electoral register, electors can cast their vote at any polling station.
12 Deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 13 T his is an enabling Clause which can be activated by the Electoral Commission when
circumstances permit, but any future registration of voters abroad will require an amendment of
both the 2007 Law and the two electoral laws.
14 This Clause was inserted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009) when votes could be cast only
at the polling station that an elector was registered . In the forthcoming 2012 local elections
electors may cast their votes at any poll ing station of their choice.

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1. The employees of the state and those of the independent governmental bodies,
as well as members of the armed forces of whatever rank, shall not be eligible
to stand for the local or Presidential/Vice- Presidential elections unless they
have submitted their written resignations 90 days
15 before the date of the
election .
2. Such resignation must be confirmed in writing by the office or the body which
has the power to do so
16.

Article 8: Timing of the elections
The Commission shall declare, in accordance with the Constitution
17, the dates
when elections shall be held and their declarations shall be published as
Presidential Decrees.

Article 9: Polling stations
1. When the elections of the President and the Vice- President are being held, the
country shall be divided i n line with the respective areas of the Regions
18 of
the Republic of Somaliland into electoral regions, which shall be further
subdivided into polling stations.
2. When the local council elections are being held, the administrative area of
each district shall be recognised as an electoral district
19, and shall be
subdivided into polling stations where the votes will be cast.
3. The Commission shall, in consultation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs
20,
the Chairmen of the Regions
21 and of the Districts, set up the polling stations
of the districts/regions, at the latest, 40 days before the date of the elections.
4. If ser ious circumstances or reasons which do not permit the holding of the
election arise in any locality of the country, the Commission shall evaluate
them and consult the Government and the political parties/associations .
22
5. The seats allocated for the polling stations where the election could not take
place shall be distributed among the parties /associations on the basis of the
15 The first period set under the 2001 Law was 180 days which was reduced firstly to 40 days.
This period was then amended many times since. I t was raised to 60 days by the 2 nd Amendments
Schedule (2010) and then raised to 90 days by the 5 th Amendments Schedule (2012). The
comparable provision in the 2005 Election Law – Article 7(3) – sets a period of 4 months (over 120
days).
16 Presumably, this is the governmental office or body which employed the person concerned. 17 In the case of Presidential elections, Article 83(2) of the constitution states that the election
shall “take place a month before the end of the term of offi ce of the outgoing President”.
18
These are still the six regions set out in Article 5 of the Re gions & Districts Law 2002, as
amended in 2007.
19 See footnote 4, above, relating to districts in w hich lections will be held i.e districts graded A, B
and C (and the capital city).
20 Note also Article 11(1) of the 2005 Election Law includes the additional stipulation that the
Commission shall also consult the national parties about the setting up of the polling stations, and
Article 11(2) sets a different deadline for their establishment as being no later than 60 days before
the polling day for the electio n of the House of Representatives.
21 Otherwise known as Governors who are unelected employees of the government. 22 Clauses 4 to 6 of this Article have been inserted by the 5 th Amendments Schedule. In paragraph
17 of the 2012 Code of Conduct, the parties/associations and the NEC agreed that in Buhodle District,
the parties/associations shall contest 7 of the 17 seats and in Hudur district, 5 out of the 13 seats.
The remaining seats in both districts shall then be divided up among the parties in accordance with
the provisions of this Article.

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proportion of total valid v otes each party/association gained in the ( relevant)
district.
6. If, however, the election cannot take place throughout one district , the seats
for that district shall be divided among the parties on the basis of the
proportion of the total valid votes each party /association gained in the
(relevant) region. The seats (of each party/association) shall then be
distributed among its candidates in the sequential order their names appear
first on the candidates’ list.

THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOMALILAND

Article 10: Structure of the Electoral Commission
The structure of the offices of the Electoral Commission shall be as follows:
1. Polling Station Electoral Office.
2. District Electoral Office.
3. Regional Electoral Office.
4. Central Electoral Office.

Article 11: Electoral Commission
1. The Commission shall consist of seven members who are as follows:
a) The Chairman and six members.
b) The Commission shall elect from among its members the Chairman and the
Deputy Chairman.
c) The term of office of the Commission i s five years, beginning from the date
the House of Representatives approves its appointment, and the term of
office may be renewed.
d) Employees of the state, members of Parliament, members of the Council of
Ministers
23, and members of the armed forces and per sons who hold
positions in associations/parties cannot become members of the
Commission.
2. The Electoral Commission shall be appointed by the President of the Republic
of Somaliland after he has received the (following) nominations:
a) 2 members selected by the House of Elders.
b) 2 members selected by the registered opposition associations/parties .
c) 3 members selected by the President.
3. The appointment of the Commission shall be approved by the House of
Representatives
24 on an absolute majority vote of half of their members plus
one, and after the House Internal Affairs Committee has ensured that the
appointees fulfil the conditions
25 set out in this Law.
23 For the Council of Ministers, see Article 94 of the Constitution. 24 The appointment of all the current members of the Electoral Commission was approved (on a
vote of 65 for, none against and no abstentions) by the House of Representatives on 24 October
2009 after the mass resignation of the previous Commission. In my view, this wholesale change of
the Commission was not the same as filling individual vacancies under Article 13(4) of this Law
and therefore the term of office of the Commission, as set out in Article 11(1)(c), is 5 years from
the date of their House confirmation i.e up 24 October 2014. The previous Commission’s term
office lasted from 2 June 20 07 to 23 October 2009 and the first Commission served before them
for a full term (plus a few months) from 21 January 2002 to 1 June 2007.
25 The conditions are set out in Article 12.

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4. The central office of the Electoral Commission shall have its headqu arters at
the capital city.
5. The Commission shall fulfil its duties in accordance with the Constitution and
this Law
26. Commission meetings shall be quorate 27, and resolutions of the
Commission shall be approved on a simple majority vote.
6. The Commission shall carry out its duties independently, and shall in no way
be interfered with by anyone.

Article 12: Eligibility criteria for membership of the Commission
1. He must be a patrial
28 citizen of Somaliland.
2. He must be no less than 40 years of age and no more than 70 years
29.
3. He must be a Muslim
30 and must behave in accordance with Islamic religion.
4. He must be educated to at least secondary school level or equivalent.
5. He must not be a member of a political association/party and must be
independent of all of them.
6. He must be renowned for respect, honour and fairness towards (all) the
members of the society.
7. He must never have been convicted by a court for a crime.
8. He must be physically and mentally able to fulfil his duties.

Article 13: Dismissal of the Commission ( Members)
1. A member of the Commission may be dismissed:
a) when he breaks one of the conditions of his appointment;
b) when he is unable to fulfil his duties due to lack of capability or ill health;
c) when he commits acts of wanton behaviour, theft, corruption or similar
matters
31.
2. When it is suspected that the matters set out above have happened, the
President shall appoint an investigation committee which shall report on the
issues so that he can reach a decision thereupon.
3. The President has the power to dismiss
32 the Commission 33 provided that the
House of Representatives approves the decision on a simple majority vote.
26 And, of course, also the 2005 Election Law (and the 2007 Voter Registration Law, which, as set
out in the 3 rd Amendments Schedule or Addendum (2011) of that Law shall not be used in the
2012 local elections).
27 The quorum set by the Commission in its Rules of Procedure is four. 28 See the comments made in connection with Article 5(1) of this Law, where this phrase is also
used in connection with voters.
29 Upper age raised from 60 by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule.. 30 This religion condition is also found in the Somaliland C onstitution (i.e. Article 41(1) relating to
members of the House of Representatives). Somalilanders are Muslims, but the interpretation of
the second part of the requirement relating to behaviour has not arisen, so far, in any proposed
appointment.
31 Some of these acts may well amount to crime, in which case issues relating to the privileges and
immunities of the Commissioners will also need to be addressed – see Article 21 of this Law and
Article 63 of the 2005 Election Law .
32 This power to dismiss is cir cumscribed by Clause 1 of this Article, which lists the circumstances
in which a Commissioner may be dismissed, and Clause 2 which sets out the investigatory process
which must be followed by the President before a dismissal can be put to the Representativ es for
approval.
33 This of course also includes individual members of the Commission.

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4. When a vacancy arises in the Commission due to dismissal, death or
resignation, it shall be filled in accordance with the procedure adopted when
the outgoing member was initially appointed
34.

Article 14: Powers of the Commission
The Commission shall have the power
35 to:
1. set the date
36 of the elections, and inform the President so that he can iss ue a
Decree
37;
2. set the number and the location of the polling stations of the districts and the
regions;
3. appoint, dismiss, or discipline the staff
38 of the central office and those of the
electoral districts and the electoral regions;
4. plan the budget for administering the electoral activities
39;
5. declare the provisional results of the elections of the President and the Vice-
President pending their confirmation by the Supreme Court;
6. inspect the polling stations and any other places connected with their duties
either randomly or in a planned fashion;
7. adjudicate on the disagreements relating to the elections, which have been
forwarded to them by their electoral offices;
8. conduct research into how the country can have polling stations where
candidates can compete fo r votes;
9. register
40 voters before the date of the election.

Article 15: Budget of the Electoral Commission
34 Although it is not expressly stated in the Law, the term of the whole Commission is five years
starting from the first date of confirmation of their appointments (or of the first group, if not all) as
set out in Article 11(1)(c) of this Law, and hence any replacements of the original appointees shall
serve only for the remainder of the original five -year term. This should have been made clear in
this Law.
35 Note also the additional “general” powers and duties given to the Commission under the 2005
Election Law, which, in my view, are not just confined to the House of Representatives election.
These are set out in Article 31 (schedule of electoral activities) and Artic le 32 (electoral
officeholders) – both Articles, because they expressly refer to this Law. There are also Article 63
(allegations against the Commission), Article 64 (disciplinary action) and Article 33 (contracts
offered by the Commission) which all relat e to the Commission and arguably are no more confined
to the House elections than the other general provisions relating to the Commission which are
included in this Law relating to presidential and local elections.
36 This Law does not set the minimum period between announcement of the dates of the elections
and the polling date, but note that under Article 26 the lists of candidates should be submitted to
the electoral offices 75 days before the polling day, and, therefore any announcement must
predate thi s deadline. Previously, this period used to be 45 days.
37 The comparable provision in the 2005 Election Law is Article 8. In practice, the Commission
consults widely before deciding on a date and the President’s role is confined to issuing the
decision as a Presidential Decree.
38 The phrase staff (or employees), ‘ shaqaalaha’ in Somali, is used in this Clause, and does not
extend to officeholders appointed by the Commission to cover the electoral offices at the regions,
districts and polling stations, wh o are covered primarily by Article 19 of this Law and Article 32 of
the 2005 Election Law.
39 See also the additional duty under Article 31 of the 2005 Election Law to “publish officially a
schedule with time frames, which sets out the plan” of its elect oral activities.
40 There will no voter registration for the coming 2012 local district council elections (see the 3 rd
Amendments Schedule ( or Addendum) (2011) of the Voter Registration Law)

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1. The Commission shall have its own budget, which is prepared by it and
submitted to the President. When an agreement is reached on the budget, it
shall be forwarded to the House of Representatives for approval.
2. The Commission shall utilise the elections budget independently, and shall
submit quarterly accounts to the Accountant
41 General.

Article 16: Polling station office
42
1. The Polling Station Elec toral Office shall consist of a chairman and two
scrutineers. The o lder of the two scrutineers shall act as deputy chairman.
The Office shall also have a secretary.
43
2. The chairman, the secretary and the two scrutineers shall be appointed by the
Commission which, if deemed necessary , has the power to transfer them.
3. If, due to urgent matters, it becomes necessary to replace a scrutineer or the
secretary while the voting is in progress, the chairman of the polling station
shall replace him with someone selected from the persons present at the
polling station and meeting the criteria for eligibility for voting set out in this
Law.
4. The Polling Station Office has the responsibility for conducting the election
activities at the station.

Article 17: District Electoral Office
1. There shall be a District Electoral Office at the headquarters of each district.
The Office shall consist of a chairman, a deputy chairman and a scrutineer.
44
2. The District Electoral Of fice shall also have a secretariat and two counting
officers.
3. The chairman, the deputy chairman, the scrutineer, the secretary and the
counting officers shall be appointed by the Commission which has the power
to change their roles.
45
4. The District Electoral Office has the responsibility for conducting the electoral
activities in the district.

Article 18: Regional Electoral Office
1. There shall be a Regional Electoral Office at the headquarters of each region.
The Office shall consist of a chairman, a deputy chairman and secretary
appointed by the Commission.
2. The Regio nal Electoral Office has the responsibility for conducting the election
activities in the region.

Article 19: Electoral officeholders
46
41 In my previous translations, I used “Comptroller”, but this office is better known as the Account
General.
42 This was referred to as the “Polling Station Electoral Office” in Article 10(a) above. This Article
and the preceding Article have their Clause numbered numerically and not alphabetically – see
footnote 6, above for the reasons.
43 There was a last sentence which was previously added by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010 )
and referring to a polling station “help desk officer” and was deleted by the 4 th Amendments
Schedule (2012).
44 Amended by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). 45 Amended by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). 46 Note also Article 32 of the 2005 Election Law which, in respect of electoral officeholder, places
a duty on the Commission to:

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1. Persons appointed by the Commission to hold electoral offices must be
informed of their appointments at least 60 (sixty) days
47 before the date of the
election.
Save for the age qualification of no less than 36 years
48 and no more than 70
years
49, the qualifying conditions for appointment of the chairmen of the
District and Regional Electoral offices shall be the same as those applicable to
the appointment of the national commission.
2. No one appointed to serve in an electoral office may be excused from the
appointment unless there is a true reason which satisfies the Commission.
3. Persons appointed to the membership of the polli ng stations, district or
regional electoral offices shall have administered to them the following oath of
office by Chairman of the District Court:
“I SWEAR BY ALLAH THAT I SHALL FULFIL MY ELECTORAL DUTIES IN A
CONSCIENTIOUS AND HONEST WAY AND THAT I SHALL BE IMPARTIAL IN
RESPECT OF THE ASSOCIATIONS/PARTIES AND THE CANDIDATES AND
THAT I SHALL WORK IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW AND JUSTICE.”
4. The members of the Commission shall have the above oath administered to
them by the Chairman of the Supreme Court.
5. Member s of the armed forces, members of organisations which are
organised
50 in ways similar to those of the armed forces, the chairmen of the
districts, regions and local councils, and candidates standing for elections
cannot be appointed to electoral offices.
6. Th e term of office of the members of the polling station, district and regional
electoral offices shall come to an end when the results of the elections are
declared. The Commission may, however, extend the term of office of any of
them, if it considers necessary.
7. State employees, members of the national armed forces, and members of
associations/parties are not eligible to serve as chairmen of the district and
regional electoral offices. The eligibility criteria for the appointment of the
chairmen of the district and regional electoral offices shall be the same as
those for the appointment of the members of the Commission
51.

Article 20: Allowances for officeholders
1. The allowances payable to electoral officeholders shall be set by the
Commission. The allowances shall be based on the varying responsibilities of
each officeholder.

1. check thoroughly that the officeholders entrusted to undertake the heavy responsibilities of
the election are proficient and able to fulfil these responsibilities;
2. provide the officeholders with adequate training and, at the same time, ensure that the
officeholders can fulfil their duties properly, before the polling day;
3. prepare transport for undertaking the activities and communication equipment for the
electoral offices and the inspectors.
47 Period increased by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). 48 See Article 12 – the lower age for commissioners is 40. 49 Inserted by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). 50 This is likely to cover the police, the corrections service, and any other uniformed public
services. Article 23 of the Constitution (freedom of movement and association) outlaws any
(private) associations which are military in nature or are armed.
51 See Article 12 above and clause 1 of this Article.

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2. Officeholders who are assigned to work at ( electoral) offices which are away
from their place of residence shall be entitled to subsistence allowance during
their absence. Such allowance shall be set by the Commission.
52

Article 21: Privileges of the Commission, candidates and officeholders
1. All officeholders working at the electoral offices and agents of
associations/parties set out in this Law shall enjoy the legal status of public
offi cers.
2. Candidates, electoral officeholders and the agents of the parties shall not be
detained
53 during the elections unless they have been caught in flagrante
delicto in respect of an offence punishable by imprisonment for three years
or more.
3. Any offences committed by the above persons shall be pursued after the
election has taken place and the persons concerned are relieved of their
responsibilities.
4. The members of the Commission shall, during their term of office, have
privileges
54 similar to those enjoyed by the members of the Council of
Ministers, and their privileges may be removed in line with Article 94(8) and
Article 96(4) of the Constitution
55.

THE ELECTION PROCESS

52 This Clause was previously numbered 3, but the preceding Clause 2 which related to allowances
for public employees serving as electoral officeholders was deleted by the 2 nd Amendments
Schedule.
53 Paragraph 11 of the 2012 Electoral Code of Conduct adds that :
1. The Government is prohibited from using the security forces such as including the police,
custodial corps, intelligence service and the national armed forces to oppress the political
parties/associat ions and their candidates and supporters.
2. No person may be imprisoned without warrant of arrest from a court, except for cases where
the law permits the Police to detain a person suspected of committing a criminal offence.
3. … same provisions as Clause 21(2) of this Law …
4. The police, custodial corps, and the national armed forces must not get involved in political
matters and must be impartial and confine themselves to the performance of their duties. “
54 See also Article 63 of the 2005 Election Law:
“Allegations against the Electoral Commission: If a member (or members) of the Electoral
Commission commits an act which may amount to a serious crime or may jeopardise the conduct
and order of the election or the public order in the country, the allegatio ns against the member,
the removal of his privileges and the prosecution shall all be dealt with in line with the procedures
set out in Clauses 96(1), 96(4) and 96(5) of the Constitution.”
55 These Articles relating to the Council of Ministers state the fo llowing:
“94(8): No Minister or Deputy Minister may be detained unless caught in flagranto delicto in
respect of an offence punishable by imprisonment for three years or more, or the President has
removed his privileges after having been satisfied by propo sals put to him by the Attorney
General.
96(4): If the Attorney General charges a Minister or a Deputy Minister with an offence set out
in Clause 1 of this Article (i.e. Article 96(1) relating to high treason and contravention of the
Constitution), he shal l forward the details of the charges to the President. If the President is
satisfied with the details provided by the Attorney General, he shall remove the privileges of
the Minister or Deputy Minister. But if he is not so satisfied he shall order the Atto rney General
to drop the charges.
See also Article 63 of the 2005 Election Law for acts which “may amount to a serious crime or may
jeopardise the conduct and order of the election or the public order in the country” and the
procedures for removal of privi leges and immunities in such cases.

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Article 22: The Election system 56
1. Every party/association which intends to participate in the elections of the
district councils s hall submit to the National Electoral Commission a list of the
candidates it has chosen to contest the election in each district. The list shall
be based on the exact number of seats allocated to each district and shall be
set out in sequential order in the manner of the Open List System . The
National Electoral Commission shall allocate to each candidate a unique
number which shall serve as his symbol.
The election of the President and the Vice- President shall, however, be based
on a ‘majority system’
57 as set out in the Constitution 58.
2. The seats of each electoral district shall be won by the parties/associations
under a proportional representation system on the basis of the (number of)
seats and the votes cast for each party/association in that district, and the
candidates of the each party/association shall succeed (in gaining the seat
won by their party/association) on the basis of the number of votes cast for
each candidate.
59
56 This Article has been amended initially by the 3 rd Amendments Schedule 2011 which changed
the closed list PR system to an open list PR system and added that each candidate should be
allocated a unique “symbol” for use in the ballot paper. The National Electoral Commission and
other commentators have pointed out the considerable logistical problems this would pose in an
election which is to be contested by nine political parties/associations for electoral districts
inv olving seats from 13 to 25. The 25 seat s for the Hargeisa City Council will , for example, involve
putting in a single ballot paper the details of 325 candidates and those of thei r
parties/associations . The disagreements were , in the end , about what information other than the
name of each candidate and the name and symbol of his party/association should be noted on
each ballot paper and whether , in addition, each candidate should also have a unique symbol, as
set out initially in the 3
rd Amendments Schedule or a unique number . When considering the 4 th
Amendments Schedule, the House of Representatives initially agreed to replace the requirement of
symbols with numbers for each candi date, but the House of Elders insisted, with a large majority,
that candidates should have individual symbols which can be recognised more easily by people
who are not literate. The Representatives then agreed with the Elders’ changes and the
Amendments bill was signed by the President. With NEC ’s advice supported by the
parties/associations and the President, the 5
th Amendments Schedule which again proposed
number s (rather than symbols) was finally passed by both Houses in Extra -ordinary sittings in
early August 2011, which were called by the President under Article 46(2)(a) and Article 71 of the
Constitution. The NEC undert ook pilot polling tests previously and were of the opinion that using
number s in a ( still) large ballot paper is feasible and prefer able to symbols. The Law has been
amended also (see Article 46) to allow persons having difficulties with the ballot paper to be
helped (in the presence of party/association representatives) by other persons who they trust or
by the members of the polling station staff.
57 This English language phrase ‘majority system’ is used in parenthesis in this Clause in the
original Somali version. This is a first past the post or “majoritarian” system with the presidential
and vice -presidential candidates of each party running in joint “tickets”.
58 See Article 83:
“1. The President and the Vice- President shall be elected jointly through a direct general
election by means of a secret ballot.
2. The joint election of the President and the Vice -President shall be based on the list system
and shall take place a month before the end of the term of office of the outgoing President.
3. …
4. The two candidates in the list which obtains the highest number of votes cast in the
Presidential and Vice -Presidential election shall be recognised as the successful candidates.
5. ….”
59 As in the 2005 House of Representative election, each voter can vote for only one candidate and
that vote is counted first for the party/association in deciding how many valid total votes each
party /association received, which will indicate how many seats can be allocated to that

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3. The unsuccessful candidates in the district elections shall act as reserve
candidates and shall be called upon, on the basis of their higher votes, when a
member of the District Council vacates his seat.
60

Article 23: Procedure for declaration of candidates
1. The list of candidates for election to the local council shall be declared by the
district committee of each association/party and shall show clearly the names
of each candidate in full (three names)
61, their place of birth and year of birth.
If there are candidates wh ose full names are the same, then they shall be
differentiated through the addition of their nicknames (if they have them)
and their fourth name
62. The list shall also confirm clearly the district in
which the candidates are standing for election.
2. The list of candidates shall be accompanied by the following:
a) Confirmation of resignation from public service appointments as set out in
Article 7 of this Law.
b) Four (4) copies (of the list) which show clearly the emblem/symbol of the
association/party.
c) Declaration by each candidate to the effect that he accepts his candidacy
and that he fulfils the relevant conditions.
d) Receipts for payment of the deposits of the candidates issued by the
Ministry of Finance as set out in Article 25 of this Law.
3. Deleted .
63

party/association under the proportional representation system. Although it is not set out in this
Clause, a division of the total valid votes cast in the district by the number of seats in the district
shall give the quotient for a seat. The number of seats gained by each party/association can then
worked out on the basis of that quotient and the largest remainders. The seats of each
party/association are then allocated to the candidates on the basis of their highest votes cast for
them. In contrast, when closed lists were used in the 2002 local elections, the seats, at this stage
were allocated to the candidates on the basis of how high up their name was in the
party/as sociation candidate’s list, as voters cast their votes for a party/association and not a
candidate.
Under Paragraph 18 of the 2012 Code of Conduct agreed by the political parties/associations and the
NEC:
a) In the unlikely event that two or more candidates of two parties/associations in a district
receive the same number of votes, they shall be separated on the basis of the total votes
garnered by their respective parties/associations in the relevant Region . (Editor’s Note : It is
difficult to see the relevance of the votes for candidates from different parties in this
sentence (see (b) below) and it is possible that the reference was to the votes of two or more
parties/associations in a district being equa l which would make it difficult to distribute the
seats in that district and hence the tie breaker of taking into consideration each such
party/associations’ Regional total votes.”
b) If two candidates of the same party/association receive an equal number of votes in their
district, then they shall be separated by a lot drawn by the NEC (sortition) in the presence of
the candidates and their party/association representatives.
(Editor’s Note: In both cases, the separation of the tie will only arise when a seat has to be
allocated on the PR system).
60 This Clause was inserted by the 3 rd Amendments Schedule. Additional procedures for filling the
vacancies at local district councils are set out in Article 27 of the Regions & Districts Law (No.
23/2002).
61 To reflect the patrilineal nomenclature of Somalis, a full name (be it male or female) consists of
the (first) name of the person followed by the (first) name of his/her father and then the (first)
name of his/her grandfather.
62 The fourth name shall be that of the great grandfather (see above). 63 Clause deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule.

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4. Any disagreements within an association/party about the declaration and
submission of a list of candidates shall be resolved by the central Committee
of that association/party.
5. Every candidate standing for election to the offices of President and Vice
Presiden t has the right to withdraw from his candidacy provided that he has
informed formally in writing his party that he was standing for and the
National Electoral Commission at least 20 days before the polling date. The
Party that he was a candidate for election can only substitute him during the
period up to 7 days before the polling date.
64
6. In the event that one of the political parties’ candidates for the offices of
President or Vice President dies after the submission of the candidates’ list,
the relevant party shall have the right to submit another candidate up to 7
(seven) days before the polling date. If, however, a candidate dies within the
7 days before the polling date, the relevant party shall have no right to submit
another candidate and the provis ions relating to the vacancies of the office of
President or Vice President set out in Article 86 and 89 of the Constitution
65
shall be followed accordingly.
7. If a political party does not substitute, before the seven days period set out in
clauses 5 and 6 o f this Article, the candidate whose candidacy was vacated on
grounds of the reasons set out in these clauses, the election shall be
contested with the name of the vacating candidate
66.

Article 24: Symbols of the lists of candidates
1. The numbers allocated to the candidates of the Associations/ Parties shall be
different from each other when they are made public and the procedures laid
down for them by t he Commission shall be followed .
67
2. A party /association shall use the same symbol when declaring candidates for
elections at local or Presidential/Vice- Presidential level.

Article 25: Deposit
Candidates for office shall pay the following non -refundable deposits
68:
64 Clause 3 to 7 inserted by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010) 65 The election will go ahead and so following the provisions of Articles 86 and 89 of the
constitution would mean that if the relevant party wins, then in the case of the death of the
presidential candidate, the vice -presidential candidate shall act as a t emporary president and the
election of the president (and presumably also the vice- president as Article 83 makes their
election as a joint election on one ticket) will be held within 6 months and in the case of the death
of the vice -presidential candidate, the president shall, subject to confirmation by the House of
Representatives, appoint a member of the House of as vice- president.
66 The clause fails to mention what happens if this party then wins the election, but perhaps the
preceding clause 6 points th e only possible answer – i.e the application of Article 86 and 89 of the
Constitution dealing with the vacancies of the office of President and Vice -President (see also the
preceding footnote).
67 This single Clause 1 was inserted by the 4 th and 5 th Amendm ents Schedules (in place of the
following three Clauses, which may well be needed again for the next Presidential elections:
“1. The symbols shown in the lists of candidates declared by the associations/parties shall be
different from each other. 2. No as sociation/party shall use a symbol which has been used
previously in an election by another association/party. 3. Symbols shall be unique and shall
show a recognised sign, but shall not show a governmental, tribal or sectarian sign.”
68 The level of deposit s was raised by 2 nd Amendments Schedule (2010). This was the only
increase since the 2001.

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a) Sl. Sh. 5,000,000 (five million Shillings) in respect of each candidate for
presidential
69 office.
b) Sl. Sh. 1,000,000 (one million Shillings) in respect of each candidate for a
local council.

Article 26: Receipt of the list of candidates
1. The lists of candidates for President and Vice- President shall be submitted to
the Commission office
70 and those for the local councils to the District
Electoral Offices before six o’clock in the afternoo n (6 p.m.) of the day which is
7 5 days
71 before the polling day 72. The lists shall be accompanied by the
attachments set out
73 in this Law.
2. The Commission office or the District Electoral Offices shall ensure that the
candidates in the lists fulfil the relevant conditions, and the name of any
candidate who did not fulfil the relevant conditions shall be referred back to
the association/party which submitted it for a substitution to be made by that
association/party within a set period.

Article 27: Publicising the lists of candidates
1. The Commission and each District Electoral Office shall prepare the methods
for publicising the (list of) candidates and shall ensure that the sequential
order of the candidates in the lists is kept and their symbols are clearly shown.
2. The Commission and all its Polling Station Electoral Offices shall prepare
written publicity of the lists of district candidates and shall display them in all
the polling stations of the district.
3. The Commission and its offices shall display 30 days
74 before the polling day
the lists of district candidates at public meeting places, notice -boards, local
government offices, etc.
75, and shall also publicise the lists , if possible, through
radio broadcast or publication in the press
76.

ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

Article 28: The beginning and end of the election campaign
77
69 There are no specific deposits to be paid by vice- presidential candidates. This may be because
each party’s candidate list will include both a presidential and a v ice-presidential candidate – see
Article 83(2) of the Constitution and Article 26 of this Law.
70 This is presumably the Central Electoral Office as set out in Article 10 above. 71 Period increased by the 4 th Amendments Schedule. The 2005 Election Law sets 6o days – Article
16(1).
72 For the forthcoming 28 November 2012 local elections, the National Electoral Commission has
announced that the deadline for submission of candidates’ list shall be 6.00 pm on 14 September
2012.
73 See Article 23 above. 74 45 days in the 2005 Election Law – Article 20(3). 75 The abbreviation ‘iwm’ in Somali is used in this Clause in the Somali version and is the same as
‘etc.’ In this context, it can be read to refer to ‘other similar places’.
76 Amended by the 4 th Schedule Am endments (2012). 77 It should be noted that the 2005 Election Law includes in its “Election Campaigns” Part a
number of articles dealing with the use of public resources by any party during the elections and
equitable access to publicly owned media (Artic le 26), the Movement of Transport at the polling
day (Article 27). The Electoral Code 2012 goes into much detail in these matters and makes them
applicable also to the local elections (and previously also to the 2010 Presidential election).
Paragraph 16 of the Code covers the use of the publicly owned media, as well as private media

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1. Election campaigns shall start when the publicity set out in Article 27 is
carried out and shall end 48 hours before the polling day.
78
2. If the election campaign period falls in the blessed month of Ramadan, the
election campaign shall start 60 (sixty) days before the polling date and end
48 hours before the polling date, so as to allow any party wishing to do so to
undertake the bulk of i ts campaigning before the month of Ramadan.
79
3. The current presidential (the presidential election of 2010) campaign period
shall be three week (21 days). The campaign shall start 23 days before the
polling date and end 48 hours before the polling date
80. If, however, the
election campaign period falls in the month of Ramadan, C lause 2 of this
Article, which was in the Amendments Schedule to this Law passed by the
House of Representatives on 26/07/2009, shall be followed.
81
4. The current campaign of the District Councils elections contested by
Parties/Associations shall last for a total period of four weeks less one day
(27 days). The campaign shall start 29 days before the polling day and shall
end 48 hours before the polling day. The Sch edule of the election campaign
shall be issued by the N ational Electoral Commission.
82

Article 29: The holding of meetings and demonstrations
1. The National Electoral Commission shall prepare and issue a planned
schedule
83 of the election campaign period demonstrations and public rallies
of the Parties/Associations in which an equal number of days are allocated to
the various Parties/Associations .
84
2. No more than one
85 meeting and a demonstration can be held in a town or
village in any one day.

during the election period. It also covers the abuse of public property and assets for electioneering
and a ban on the use of foreign funds or the assets of non-governmental or charitable
organisations.
The 2005 Law also gave the NEC powers under Article 64 to take administrative disciplinary
action against parties for contravention of the electoral law and code. This has also been extended
through the 2012 Code to the forthco ming local elections and the monitoring/investigation of such
contraventions and recommendations to the NEC for action are delegated to the independent
Electoral Monitoring Committee set up under the Code.
78 Following the announcement that the local district councils’ election polling date shall be 28
November 2012, the NEC announced that the campaign period shall start on 29 October 2012 and
end on 25 November 2012.
79 Clause inserted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 80 Clause inserted by 2 nd Amendments Sch edule (2010). 81 Clause i nserted by the 4th Amendments Schedule (20 12). 82 This Clause was inserted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 83 Article 18(2) of the 2012 Electoral Code of Conduct:
“ The National Electoral Commission shall prepa re and issue the schedule of planned public rallies
and demonstrations and rallies of the parties /associations during election campaign period, setting
out an equal allocation of days for all the parties /associations. It is incumbent on the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, the Regional Governors and the Districts’ Mayors to implement the NEC’s schedule
during the election. The sequence of the parties/associations’ allocated days for public
rallies/demonstrations shall be d ecided by the drawing of lots (sortition)”
84 The Changes to this Clause were made in the 4 th Amendments Schedule. Previously the Clause
read: “ Persons organising meetings and demonstrations relating to the election campaign shall
inform in writing the Ch airman of the District and the relevant police station 48 hours before the
event. The Chairman of the District may ban the holding of such meetings or demonstrations if he
is satisfied that they might damage the health, morals or general peace etc., and it is incumbent on
him to order that the meetings or demonstration may be held at places and times set by him.”
85 Changed from two to one meeting by the 4 th Schedule Amendments (2012).

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Article 30: Display of boards
1. The b oard displays, election campaign leaflets and election campaign
messages of a party/association/candidate shall be approved by the National
Electoral Commission which sha ll also stop their use if they are contrary to the
laws and to the public morals
86. No taxes shall be paid for these materials.
2. No election campaign boards or leaflets shall be displayed at mosques,
government offices and transport, diplomatic and international organisations
centres, etc.

Article 31: Weapons and military uniforms
No weapons, military uniforms or similar materials
87 may be carried or worn in
election campaign meetings or demonstrations.

Article 32: Agents of the parties/associations
1. The central committee or the regional/district committees of each
association/party may send an agent
88 who has the right to vote to any polling
station where their candidates are standing for election. They may also send a
substitute if the agent is absent.
2. Agents sent by the associations/parties shall be present when the electoral
office is conducting its activities
89, and shall submit any concerns or requests
for clarification that they may have, which shall be recorded.
3. The names of the agents of the associations/parties shall be submitted to the
Commission or its offices 20 days
90 before the polling day. [The Commission
or its offices shall issue each agent with a written permission allowing him
access into and freedom to exercise his duties at his designated polling
station.] 91
86 Changed by the 4 th Schedule amendments (2012). Previously the Clause r ead: “Board displays
and election campaign leaflets shall be submitted to the office of the Chairman of the District 48
hours before they are displayed. No fees shall be charged for these submissions”. The independent
NEC has now charge of these issues.
87 Besides other laws relating to possession of weapons, Article 23(4) of the Constitution makes
unlawful any association which is military in nature or is armed.
Paragraph 10 of the 2012
Electoral Code adds “
Candidates, m embers of Political Parties /Associations, their agents and their
supporters are prohibited from carrying any type of weapons at public gatherings, meetings, polling
sations and at any place s where other parties/associations’ election campaigns are being
conducted. ”
88 Two agents in the 2005 Election Law – Article 28(1). 89 Note, however, that under Article 42(5) of this Law, the electoral activities will not be hampered
if a party fails to assign an agent to a polling station.
90 Changed from 10 to 20 days by the 2 nd A mendments Schedule (2010), and the same change is
repeated in the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012) even though the 3 rd Amendments Schedule had
no bearing on this Clause. The period is 21 days in the 2005 Election Law – Article 28(3).
91 It is unclear whether the changes to the first sentence of this Clause, which related only to the
period of 20 days were also meant to replace this second sent ence, as they start with the phrase
that “Clause 32(3) has been changed to …” . In my view, i t is more than likely th at the change was
only meant to affect the period from the previous 10 days to 20 days and that the rest of the Clause
[in square brackets inserted by me]is still current. In any case, it is essential that the NEC deals
with the accreditation cards of agen ts which will enable the agents to exercise thei r duties laid
down in this Law and, as a matter of good practice, there is nothing stopping the NEC from
undertaking this essential task.

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4. The agents of the Parties/Associations shall be selected on the basis of the
following criteria
92:
a) S/he shall be a partial citizen of Somaliland.
b) S/he shall be aged no less than 25 years in the year the election is being
held.
c) S/he shall be able to read and write.
d) S/he shall be a responsible person of good character.

ELECTION OF LO CAL COUNCILS

Article 33: Conditions relating to candidates for local councils
1. He must be a patrial citizen of Somaliland.
2. He must be actually resident in the district where he is standing for election.
3. He must be a Muslim and must be known to behave in ac cordance with Islamic
religion.
4. He must not be less than 25 years
93 of age during the year the election is
taking place.
5. He must be suitable for this office on the basis of his standing within the
community.
6. He must not have been the subject of a final sentence for a criminal offence
proven in a court within the preceding ten years
94.
7. He must be educated to secondary school level if standing for elections in
districts graded Category A or B, or, at a minimum, to intermediate school
level or equivalent if he is standing for election in districts graded Category C
or D.
8. He must be a local district tax -payer or must have participated in a voluntary
capacity in activities which are of public interest in the district.

Article 34: Associati on which do not becom e parties

Associations which do not succeed in becoming an approved party but gain seats
in the local elections in some districts must join one of the three approved
parties
95.
92 Clause inserted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 93 This redu ction of the qualifying age from 35 to 25 was made in the 3 rd Amendments Schedule
(2012) which came into force on 13 December 2011.
94 This period is twice that applying to candidates for both Houses of Parliament – Articles 41 and
59 of the Constitution.
95 This Article has been replaced by Article 24(1) of the Regulation of Political Associations and
Parties Law (Law No. 14/2011) which states:
“ Every party/association which does not succeed in the district councils elections shall join,
together with its district council members that have gained seats in the district councils of the
country, one of the three national parties of its choice and shall inform (their choice), in writing,
the Registration Committee within a period of no more than one month (30 d ays).”
After the 2002 nationwide local district council s’ elections, the successful local council candidates
belonging to the three out of the six contesting political associations (SAHAN, HORMOOD and
ASAD) that did not become one of the new three political parties were obliged to join the three
new parties. Th is compulsory post -election floor crossing is adopted to maintain the
constitutional limit of three parties in Article 9(3) of the Constitution whilst periodic ally new
political associations can compete to become political parties once every 10 years throu gh the
nationwide local elections. The November 2012 local elections are being contested by the
previous three political parties and six new political associations, out of which only the top three

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ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT AND THE VICE -PRESIDENT

Article 35: Conditions for candidacy to the offices of the President/Vice –
President
1. The conditions for candidacy to the offices of the President and Vice- President
shall be those set out in Article 82
96 of the Constitution.
2. Candidates standing for election to the offices of President and Vice- President
must be members of and be nominated for election by an association/party
which has been registered or approved.

Article 36: System for election of the President and the Vice -President
The system for electing the President and the Vice -President shall be as set out in
Clauses 1 to 4 of Article 83
97 of the Constitution.

PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCT OF THE ELECTIONS

Article 37: Electoral offices equipment
98
1. The National Electoral Commission shall prepare for each polling station the
fo llowing materials
99:

shall emerge as the new three political parties for next 10 years (see Article 6 of the Political
Associations & Parties Law 2011). The successful councillors belonging to the losing 6
parties/associations must then join one of the new three parties. Incidentally the period of
operation of the “permissible floor crossing” amendment provision (Article 11(4)) of the Regulations
of Political Associations & Parties Law – Law No. 14/2011) which allowed House of Representatives
members to join the new associations or another party comes to an end when the lection take s place
and, therefore, under Article 24(2) any sitting Representative whose party/association fails to come
through as one of the new three parties must also join one of the new parties so that he continue to
serve the remainder of his term. (For further information, see my annotated text of that Law).
96 “Article 82: The Conditions for Eligibility for Election as President or Vice-President
To be elected as President or Vice- President, a person must fulfil the following conditions:
1. He must be a citizen of Somaliland by birth, and, notwithstanding residence as a refugee in
another country, must not hold any other citizenship.
2. He must be a Muslim, and must behave in accordance with Islamic religion.
3. He must not be less than 40 years o f age.
4. He must be physically and mentally able to fulfil his duties.
5. He must possess knowledge of and experience in management (public and otherwise).
6. He must not have been convicted by a court for an offence against the Somaliland nation.
7. His spouse must be Muslim.
8. He must be fully apprised of the realities of the country, having been resident in the country
for a period of at least two years before the date when the election is scheduled to take
place.
9. He must register his private property.”
97 “Article 83: Election Procedures
1. The President and the Vice- President shall be elected jointly through a direct general
election by means of a secret ballot.
2. The joint election of the President and the Vice -President shall be based on the list system
and shall take p lace a month before the end of the term of office of the outgoing President.
3. The outgoing President and Vice -President shall continue in office until the new President
and the Vice -President assume their offices within a month ( of the election).
4. The two ca ndidates in the list which obtains the highest number of votes cast in the
Presidential and Vice -Presidential election shall be recognised as the successful
candidates.”
98 Throughout the Law, the Somali words of “qalab” (equipment) and “agab” (materials) are
sometimes used interchangeably.

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a) A copy of this Law.
b) A sealed container which has in it the stamp of the polling station as well as
ink and a stamp pad.
c) A sealed container which has in it the ballot papers.
d) The ballot boxes.
e) A container for carrying the ballot papers.
f) Three forms to record the voting activities.
g) A tabulated form.
h) Enough ballpoint pens for marking the ballot papers.
i) At least five posters showing how voters can mark the ballot papers.
j) A bottle of indelible ink for marking the voters.
k) The various written materials that may be required.
l) m) & n) Deleted.
100
2. When combined
101 local elections are being held, the materials referred to in
1(c) to 1(g) in the preceding clause shall be provided in duplicate, but shall be
marked differently.
3. The Commission shall prepare for the Central Electoral Office and for each
district/region the following materials:
a) A copy of this Law.
b) A sealed container which has in it the stamp of the District or Regional
(Electoral) Office as well as ink and a stamp pad.
c) Three forms to re cord the election
102 activities of the District/Region
(Electoral offices).
d) Tabulation forms.
e) Various stationery.
f) Deleted.
103
4. The equipment for each (electoral) office shall be placed in a separate
container which shall be locked and sealed. The Commission shall send the
equipment and the ballot boxes at the appropriate time to the electoral offices
of the district/region which shall, in turn, pass them on to the polling stations.
5. a) The Commission shall prepare for each polling station additional ballot
papers the number of which shall not exceed 2% of the total number of ballot
papers the Commission allocated for the polling station , and shall note in a
special register in the possession of the National Electoral Commission t heir
(serial) numbers and the po lling stations to which they are sent . These ballot
papers shall be placed in a special sealed box inside the election container for
the relevant polling station.
99 Various additional materials previously required for the voting based on an electoral roll were
added to this Clause by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009), but ha ve since been removed by the
4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 100 Inserted originally by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009) and then d eleted by 4 th
Amendments Schedule (2012) . Sub clause “n” was also deleted previously by the 2nd
Amendments schedule.
101 The reference to combined local elections is not clear, but it may be referring to different
polling stations being situated in the same place/building.
102 The Law refers here to the voting activities, but as voting only takes place at the polling
stations, it is submitted that this refers to the “election” activities conducted by the District and
Regional Electoral Offices.
103 Inserted originally by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009) and then deleted by the 4 th
Amendments Schedule (2012) .

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b) The additional ballot papers shall only be used to replace ballot papers
spoilt before they are cast, provided that the chairman and the agents of the
Parties/Associations at the polling station are satisfied with their use. Every
occasion when such an additional ballot paper is used to cast a vote and the
reasons necessitating its use shall be recorded.
104

Article 38: Ballot papers
An upright and rectangular symbol of each association/party shall be printed on
each ballot paper. Each symbol shall have an accompanying blank space for the
voter’s mark.
105 Each ballot paper shall have a small gummed edge 106 so that it
can be folded and sealed.

Article 39: Proper use of the official lists and the polling stations
1. Every polling station where voting is taking place shall have two small booths
where voters can enter and mark their ballot papers therein and are so
arranged as to ensure secret balloting.
2. The ballot boxes for holding the ballot papers shall be placed in full view of or
beside the tables used by the Chairman of the polling station.
3. Deleted .
107

Article 40: Display of the list of candidates
1. A copy of the display referred to in Article 27 of this Law shall be affixed to
places which can be seen by everyone and form parts of the electoral offices or
are inside and outside of the polling stations.
2. A copy of the publicity referred to in Article 27 of this Law which the
Commission prepared from the list of candidates in the order in which the lists
were passed to it shall be affixed to visible places outside and inside the
electoral offices.

Article 41: Distribution of electoral equipment
1. The Distri ct Electoral Office shall ensure that the necessary equipment shall
reach each polling station , where the voting will take place , at six o’clock
108 in
the morning (6 a.m.) before the polling day.
2. The Commission shall deliver to the district electoral offices the equipment
required for voting at the latest four o’clock
109 in the afternoon (4 p.m.) of the
day before the polling day.
3. Every polling station shall be issued with:
a) A note declaring the names of the polling station officers.
b) A note declaring (the names of) the agents of the associations/parties who
shall be present at the polling station.
104 These changes to this Article 5 were made by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). The
Clauses which numbered three (a to c) were originally inserted by the 1 st Amendment s Schedule
(2009). The previous Clause 6 of this Article was deleted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 105 See also Article 22(1) for other matters that affect the design of the ballot paper in local
elections.
106 The practical design of the ballot papers may not allow for gummed edges which would be
susceptible to tearing at the count.
107 The third Clause relating to Voters Register was deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule
(2012).
108 Ten o’clock in the 2005 Elect ion Law – Article 39(1). 109 Five o’clock in the 2005 Election Law – Article 39(2).

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Article 42: Polling Station Office
1. When the polling station Chairman receives the equipment referred to in the
preceding Article, he shall:
a) prepare the office and inf orm the scrutineers and the secretary that they
are the officers of the station and instruct them in how they will fulfil the
duties assigned to them;
110
b) ensure that the approved agents of the associations/parties are present;
c) having confirmed, in the prese nce of officers of the station and the agents
of the associations/parties, that the containers are sealed, open them, and
check that the equipment are complete;
d) having confirmed, in the presence of officers of the station and the agents,
that the envelopes containing the (polling) station stamp and the ballot
papers are sealed, open the envelopes, mark the ballot papers with the
polling station stamp and place them neatly in a suitable container. No
person, other than those approved in writing
111 , shall be pr esent at the
polling station at this stage;
e) ensure that the displays setting out the voting procedures and the lists of
the candidates are affixed to the assigned places;
f) ensure that the necessary equipment assigned for the voting is utilised in
the way set out in the Law so that the election activities are carried out
properly.
2. He (the polling station Chairman) shall record that all the above activities have
been carried out. Th e record shall also show the stamp of the polling station
and the total number of ballot papers received by the polling station.
3. He shall then ensure that all the officers and the agents confirm through their
signatures that everything is in place as plann ed.
4. When the Chairman of the polling station confirms that all the above activities
have been carried out, he shall declare that the voting may commence.
5. If the political parties
112 do not assign agents to a polling station, the electoral
activities shall no t be hampered and the Commission officeholders at the
polling station shall proceed ahead with their work.

Article 43: Powers of the Chairman of the polling station
1. The Chairman of the polling station shall keep order during the election. He
may instruct the police to remove a person from the polling station or detain
a person who has committed an offence in connection with the election
activities or a person who is manifestly insane.
2. The police shall not enter the polling station unless ordered to do so by the
Chairman.
110 The rest of the sentence which was previously inserted by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule
(2010) was deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012) . 111 As set out in Article 41( 3) of this Law. 112 This Clause which was inserted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009) omitted to include
political associations as it was passed before the impending presidential election which could only
be contested by the thre e national political parties. Ne vertheless, there is no reason why this
Clause should not apply also to the n ew political associations in 2012 local elections. The 2012
Electoral Code of Conduct covers the responsibilities of the agents of the parties and association in
respect of Article 52(2).

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3. Police officers and state employees shall fulfil any requests made by the
Chairman of the polling station so as to ensure smooth voting and avoid
overcrowding around the polling station officers’ table or in the immediate
vicinity of the polling station.
4. The Chairmen of the polling stations and those
113 of the central (electoral)
office shall have the right to exercise the powers set out in this Article.

Article 44: Access to the polling station
1. Only persons managing the polling station, agents of associations/parties and
voters may enter the polling station.
114
2. It is forbidden for voters to carry weapons at the polling station. Voters shall
proceed ahead of each other in the order of their arrival, but if there are
persons who are working o n election activities and who wish to cast their
ballot, they may be allowed to proceed ahead of the other waiting voters. Only
one person at a time may enter the polling station.

Article 45: Steps before voting

Deleted.
115

Article 46: Persons who cannot Vote
1. Voters who attend the polling station in person may place their votes in the
ballot box.
2. If, due to physical incapacity, a person may not be able to cast his vote, the
Chairman of the polling station may allow another voter who is trusted by the
incapacitated person to help him cast his vote. If there is an old person or a
person who is unable to understand where to put his mark on the ballot paper,
the Chairman of the polling station shall ask someone who has the trust of the
person to help him cast his vote. In the absence of someone who has the trust
of the person, the Chairman may ask the polling station staff to help the
113 The word used here is in the plural, but there is only one central office as set out in Article 10
above.
114 This Clause seems to overlook the right of observers and also of the Central Electoral
officeholders to enter the polling stations for observation and inspection. Indeed, other than
Article 1 which defines observers, there is no mention of the role of observers in this Law.
115 This Article as initially drawn up dealt with the process of confirming the identity of the voters
at the polling station in elections held without a Voters’ Register. It was then amended by the 1 st
and the 2 nd Am endments Schedules when it dealt with the verification of the prospective vo ter’s
presence in the electoral register . With the abolition of the Voters Register on 14 December 2011
by the 3
rd Amendments Schedule (2011) of the Voter Registration Law (No. 37/2007), the issue
that arises now is how the eligibility of the perspective voters can be checked. The Ist
Amendments Schedule (2009) of this Law added to Article 66 of the Law a provision to the effect
that its changes which were mainly related to the voters’ register would only be used in any
election, which is conducted on the basis of a voter registration system. Now that these
amendments have been repealed, there is nothing, in my view, stopping the NEC from using any of
the pre 2009 provisions relating to the identification of voters in elections without voter
registration, which can be supplemented with the use of specified acceptable identity
documents. The pre 2009 Article 45(1) provision relating to identification was as follows:
“A voter may cast his vote after:
a) he has given the particulars of his name, age and id entification;
b) his right to vote has been verified and he has fulfilled the voting conditions after his
identification, including any documents he is carrying, other witness statements or means
of proof, has been checked promptly.”

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person. The agent of the Party/Association whose candidate the person has
indicated his intention to vote for can be present
116 .
3. The Secretary of the polling station shall record the reason why the
incapacitated person was allowed to be helped in casting his vote. The record
shall also show the details of both the incapacitated person and his helper.
117

Article 47: The Voting Pr ocedure
1. On completion of the activities set out in Article 45
118 , as amended, 119 the
Secretary shall:
a) hand the voter a ballot paper for casting whilst ensuring that the ballot
paper’s cou nterfoil remains and is stamped.
b) Deleted .
120
c) Deleted .
2. If, before he casts his vote, the voter notices that the ballot paper is
incomplete or torn, he shall return it and ask for a replacement. Such an
incident shall be recorded in writing.
121
3. The voter shall then enter the small booth where the ballot papers are
marked.
4. Us ing one of the ballpoint pens provided, the voter shall put a mark anywhere
within the section of the ballot paper which is specifically for the
party/candidate
122 that he wishes to vote for, and then fold the ballot paper
and leave the booth.
123
5. The voter shall then put his ballot paper in the ballot box.
116 These last three senten ces referring to persons who may have difficulty in understanding how
to mark the ballot paper were added by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012) and is particularly
relevant to the “open list” local districts council election voting ballot papers which wi ll carry the
names (and parties) of a considerable number of candidates.
117 The same procedure relating to incapacitated voters will presumably be adopted by the polling
station secretary in connection with the old and other persons that may also be helped in line with
new additional provision in the preceding Clause.
118 Note that Article 45 was deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 119 This was the wording of the 1 st Amendments Schedule which changed extensively this Article
and expanded it from 7 to 13 Clauses.
120 This sub clause (b) and the following (c) were deleted by t he 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012).
They were originally inserted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 121 Inserted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009).
122 Paragraph 18(5) of the2012 Electoral Code of Conduct: “ Article 47(3) (sic- should read now
47(4)) is very clear and concise in connection to where the voter should place his mark on the ballot
paper. However, considering the fact that many of the Somaliland people are not literate, the
possibility of a large number of Somaliland populations losing the ir votes, because of illiteracy,
cannot be ruled out. To avoid this problem, the parties/associations agreed as the following which
is in accord with the procedures used in the previous elections:
a) Voters are permitted to place their mark at any part of the ballot paper which is particularly
set aside for the party/ association he wishes to vote for.
b) Any such mark that a voter makes writes on the voting paper such as a dot, cross, line, symbol,
tick shall be accepted so long as the mark is clearly inserted in the part of the ballot paper set
aside for the party/association.
c) If the voter’s mark exceeds largely the part of the ballot paper set aside for a
party/association, the vote shall be considered as void. However, the vote shall be counted as
correct and valid if it is apparent that the intention of the voter was to vote for a specific
party/association as, for example, where the majority of the mark in the ballot paper lies
within the part set aside for that specific party/association and only a small section of the
mark strayed into the part set aside for another party/association. “
123 Amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009).

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6. The voter shall then proceed to (the position of) the second scrutineer who
shall mark the voter’s left hand small finger with indelible ink.
124 The ink
shall be marked on the voter’s right hand small finger if has no left hand small
finger, and if he has neither, on, preferably, any other finger in his left hand. If
the voter has no hands, the mark shall be place on any other visible part of his
body.
7. Deleted 125 .
8. Deleted
126 .
9. Deleted.
127
10. The Chairman of the polling station shall oversee the other polling station
officials’ performance of their duties and shall be free to run smoothly the
activities at the station.
11. The Chairman of the polling station shall have the power to expel from the
station any voter who , without any excuse, loiters at the station, and to
confiscate his ballot paper. Any such expelled voter shall be allowed to vote
after all the other waiting persons cast their votes.
12. Deleted.
128
13. The Chairman of the polling station shall order promptly that any voter, who
has additional ballot papers or ballot papers which are different from the
ones in use, has the ballot papers removed from him and shall, if possible,
hand him over to the security forces so that he can be prosecuted. Any such
incident shall be recorded in writing .
129

Article 48: Conduct of the Voting
1. Voting shall be completed within one day, beginning at seven o’clock
130 in the
morning (7 a.m.) and finishing at six o’clock in the evening (6 p.m.).
2. If there are voters who are still queuing outside to vote, the finishing time
shall be disregarded and voting shall continue until all such waiting voters
have cast their votes.

Article 49: Decisions about Complaints at the Polling Station
The Polling Station (Electoral) Office shall reach provisional decisions about
complaints (if any), such as those made orally or any arguments relating to voting
activities of the polling station. These complaints and arguments shall be recorded
in writing.

Article 50: Activities before the Counting of Vo tes
1. After all the voters have cast their votes, the Chairman of the (polling) station
shall announce loudly that the voting has finished.
124 The reference to the Voter’s card has been removed by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 125 Deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). Note, however, that Clause 7 relating to the
punching of voters cards was already removed by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule when the card
punching plan was abandoned, and so by the time the 4 th Schedule Amendments were passed, thi s
Article consisted of 12 and not 13 Clauses. Theses deleted Clauses were originally inserted by the
1
st Amendments Schedule (2009). 126 Deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 127 Deleted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 128 Deleted by the 4 th Ame ndments Schedule (2012). 129 This Clause was previously amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule and has since been
further amended slightly by the 4 th Amendments Schedule. 130 Six o’clock in the 2005 Election Law – Article 45(1).

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2. When the Chairman of the (polling) station gathers from the table all the
papers and equipment which are not necessary for the count, he shall start the
following activities:
a) Check the total number of voters by looking at the number of ballot papers
issued.
b) Collect and count all the ballot papers that have not been used and place
them in the first envelope.
c) Confirm and af fix his signature on the damaged or incorrect ballot papers
which were returned by the voters or were seen by the officers to be so, and
place them in the second envelope.

Article 51: Counting of the Votes
1. When the Chairman of the (polling) station has co mpleted the activities set out
in the preceding Article, he shall start the count of the ballot papers in the
ballot box. To enable this, a scrutineer shall remove from the ballot box one
131
ballot paper at a time, which he shall pass on to the Chairman. The Chairman
shall open each ballot paper and announce loudly (the name of) the
association/party which gained each vote. The ballot paper shall then be
passed by the scrutineer to the second scrutineer and shown to the agents of
the associations/parties. The Secretary shall then record the vote in the
appropriate tabulated form which relates to the association/party for which
the vote was cast and shall place the ballot paper in the appropriate box.
2. No ballot paper shall be removed from the ballot box while the preceding
ballot paper is still being processed and placed in the (appropriate) box. Only
the officers of the (polling) station shall manage these tasks.
3. When the Chairman of the (polling) station completes the count, he shall
confirm the total number of ballot papers and reconcile them with the total
votes cast for the associations/parties as well as the total number of disputed
ballot papers or incorrect ballot papers or those which are invalid in
accordance with Article 57 of this Law.
4. When the Chai rman of the (polling) station completes his confirmation and
affixes his signatures, he shall:
a) place the ballots adjudged as void and the complaints of the party agents in
the envelope (numbered) 3;
b) place the disputed ballot papers in the envelope (numbered) 4; and
c) finally put all the valid and counted ballot papers in the envelope
(numbered) 5.
132
5. If extra (unaccounted for) ballot papers or ballot papers which are different
from those used in the (polling) station, such as those without the stamp or
the ballot numbers of the station or are of a type different from those used in
the station for voting, are found in the ballot box, the polling station officers
shall separate them from ballot papers to be counted and, having shown them
to the political p arties/associations ’ agents
133 at the station, shall discard
them and record the incident in writing.
134

131 Clause amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 132 Amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 133 Associations added by the 4 th Amendment Schedule (2012). 134 Clause amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009).

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Article 52: The Closure of the Counting Activities
1. When the Chairman of the (polling) station completes the counting activities
set out in the preceding Article, he shall declare publicly the total number of
voters, the correct votes cast and the number of votes cast for each
association/party list and candidate
135 .
2. In order to avoid the loss of the votes cast by the citizens
, it is incumbent 136
on each party/association agent to sign the envelopes or to submit in writing
his reasons for not signing, which will be added to the envelope
.137
3. The details of the materials in each envelope shall be noted on the outside of
each envelope.
4. The counting act ivities shall be completed as set out (above) in a continuous
manner and without interruptions or engagement in other activities.
5. The written records shall show clearly the activities set out above.

Article 53: Spoilt
138 or Disputed Votes
1. When the ballot papers are being counted, the following papers shall be
considered void:
a) If they are different from the ballot papers which the Commission has
chosen for use in the election.
b) If they do not have the stamp of the polling station affixed to them.
2. The counted ballot papers shall become void if:
a) the ballot paper contains any writing or signs or skilfully applied
impressions, which are not as authorised; (or)
b) the ballot paper does not show clearly the association/party for which the
vote was cast and this cannot be recognised; (or)
c) the ballot paper shows that the voter has marked the symbols of more than
one party /association .
3. A vote may become void when the all the officers of the polling station so
resolve jointly. If, however, there is no such joint resolution and there is
disagreement, the relevant ballot paper shall be recognised as a disputed one.
4. The District Electoral O ffice can reach decisions about disputed ballot papers.

Article 54: The Written Records of the Polling Station
1. The record of the results of the polling station shall be kept in the appropriate
form designed by the National Electoral Commission for this pu rpose which
shall consist of an original record and eleven
139 copies. The Chairman of the
polling station shall declare publicly:
135 Candidate added by the 4 th Amendment Schedule (2012). 136 This is reinforced by Paragraph 18(4) of the 2012 Electoral Code of Conduct: P arties and
Associations must encourage their agents to either sign the envleopes or register their complaints at
the polling station.
137 Changed by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). The previous wording was: “ The envelopes
shall then be sealed, and shall have affixed to them on the outside the stamp of the polling station
and the signatures of the Chairman of the (polling) station, and those of at least one of the
scrutineers and of all the agents of the associations/parties which have candidates standing for
election at the polling station”.
138 It appears that various words have been used for incomplete or incorrect or spoilt ballot
papers in various clauses. This Article deals with ballot papers which can be rendered void.
139 The original 2001 text of the Law set down 3 copies, which was incre ased to 5 by the 1 st
Amendments Schedule (2009) and then to 11 by the 4 th Am endments Schedule 2012 (so that there
are sufficient copies to be given to the 9 parties/associations contesting the 2012 local elections).

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a) The total number of votes cast at the station.
b) The number of spoilt votes.
c) The number of disputed votes.
d) The number of valid votes.
e) The number of votes cast for each party/ association/candidate contesting
the election.
2. The original form referred to in Clause 1 of this Article shall be forwarded to
the Chairman of the Regional Electoral Office. Two copies of the form shall be
pla ced in the same container which holds the sealed envelopes referred to in
Clauses 55(1) and (2) of this Law and, together with the remaining electoral
materials, shall be forwarded to the District Electoral Office. The remaining
nine copies shall be given to the agents of the parties/associations.
140

Article 55: The Transport and Transfer of Equipment
1. The Chairman of the polling station, accompanied by at least one of the
officers (of the polling station) and the guarding police officers, shall transport
without any delay the written records and the envelopes of the polling station
and hand them over
141 to the District Electoral Office.
2. When the envelopes are being handed over to the District Electoral Office,
they shall be checked so as to ensure that they are sealed and have not been
opened or interfered with
142 . The Chairman of the District Electoral Office
shall issue a receipt confirming transfer of the materials.
143

Article 56: The Work of the District Electoral Office
1. On receipt of the materials set out i n Article 55 of this Law, the Chairman of
the District Electoral Office shall:
a) instruct the scrutineers, the secretary and the counting officers to get
ready for the work;
b) call the agents of the associations/parties, which have fielded candidates at
the Di strict elections and were approved by the Commission, so they can
be present during the conduct of the (electoral) activities;
c) after he and the officers and the agents have ensured that the containers
are sealed and have not been opened previously, open th e containers and
check and remove the materials; ( and)
d) after they
144 have jointly ensured that the envelopes are sealed and have
not been opened previously, open the envelope which contains the stamp
and check that the number on the stamp has been affixed to the written
records.
2. The District Electoral Office shall then check that the written records and the
envelopes set out in Articles 50, 51 and 54 of this Law are complete.
145

140 Clause amended by the Amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009) , and then minor
changes were made by the 4 th Amendments Schedule 2012. 141 The 2005 Election Law sets a time limit of 12 hours within which the handover should take
place – Article 52(1).
142 The 2005 Election Law says that this should be done in the presence of the party agents –
Article 52(2).
143 The third Clause in this Article was deleted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 144 The Chairman, officers and agents. 145 The third Clause in this Article was deleted by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009).

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Article 57: The Counting of the District Votes 146
On receipt of the polling station electoral materials, in the presence of the political
parties’ agents, the District Electoral Office shall
147 :
1. check that the various envelopes are properly sealed;
2. check the number of the void ballot papers and add any emerging changes to
the totals for the relevant competing parties/ associations
148 /candidates;
3. reach decisions about the disputed ballot papers and where it has been decided
that disputed votes shall be counted, add these to the total votes of the
parties/ associations/ candidates for which they have been cast;
4. reach decisions about the disputed polling station ballot boxes and record the
results of these polling stations in the voting results record forms of these
polling stations.
5. A ballot box may be:
a) counted if it is accepted that its votes have been cast in accordance with
the law;
b) rendered void if it is shown that its votes have been cast in a manner not
consistent with the law.
c) The validity of any contested ballot box must be determined on the basis of
the two options set out in (the preceding) sub clauses (a) and (b) of this
clause.
6. The decisions of the District Electoral Office shall validated by a simple
majority vote of the officeholders
149 .
7. If the District Electoral Office cannot resolve finally disputes about a polling
station ballot box or complaints about disputed ballot papers, or complaints
are made about the checking of ballot papers adjudged by the Polling Station
Office as void, it shall forward the relevant ballot box and a written report or
the complaints (whichever is the case) to the Regional Electoral Office which
shall strive to settle the disputes.
8. The District Electoral Office shall add up all the voting results of all the
district’s polling stations and shall record the district voting results in the
relevant fo rms designed for this purpose, which consist of one original copy
and eleven copies
150 , and shall declare publicly the:
a) total votes cast in the district;
b) number of spoilt votes;
c) number of disputed vote;
d) number of valid votes; and
e) number of votes cast for eac h contesting party/association/candidate.
9. The District Electoral Office shall forward to the Regional Electoral Office the
original copy of the district voting results, as well as the original voting results
of the district’s polling stations and the copies of all the total results of all the
146 In original 2001 text of this Law, this Article was headed “The Counting of the Votes for the
Presidential Election” and dealt with the count at the District Electoral Office. With the change of
the heading, this Article re lates to all counts at the district, including local elections, but see also
Article 59 which also deals specifically with district councils elections only. Most of the changes in
this Article were in the 1
st Amendments Schedule (2009) (and not the 2 nd Am endments Schedule)
and further changes were made by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 147 This Article was init ially amended extensively by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 148 Inserted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule in this Clause and in the fo llowing Clause 3. 149 See Article 17 for the list of the District officeholders. 150 The 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012).

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polling stations. Two copies (of the district results) shall be placed in the box
(for the regional office) and the other remaining nine copies shall be given to
the agents of the parties/associations at the District Electoral Office.
151

Article 58: The Work of the Regional Electoral Office
1. After receiving the written records
152 of the polling stations, the total result of
the votes as declared by the districts in the region and the total votes cast for
each party as forwarded by the District Electoral Offices of the region, the
Regional Electoral Office shall check the calculati ons of the results of the total
votes.
2. The Regional Electoral office shall, in the presence of the contesting
parties/associations’ agents, reach decisions about any outstanding
complaints or disputes which have been forwarded to it, and shall add up the
v oting results of all the districts in the region and produce the:
a) total number of votes cast in all the districts of the region;
b) total number of spoilt votes in all the districts of the region;
c) total number of valid vote in all the districts of the region ;
d) number of votes cast for each contesting party /association.
After recording the voting results of the region in the relevant forms designed
for this purpose, the Regional Electoral Office shall declare publicly the voting
results of the region.
153
3. The Chai rman of the Regional Electoral Office shall
154 :
a) record the voting results of the regi on in the forms referred to in clause 2
of this article which consist of one original copy and five [eleven?
155 ] copies;
b) forward to the Supreme Court the original copy togethe r with a copy of the
voting results of every district in the region;
c) forward to the National Electoral Commission two copies, as well as the
original copies of the voting results of all the districts in the region; (and)
d) give the remaining nine copies to t he agents of the parties/associations at
the Regional Electoral Office.

Article 59: The Counting of the Local Elections and the Declaration of the
Result
On receipt of the materials set out Article 55 (of this Law) in relation to the local
elections, the Chairman of the District Electoral Office shall:
1. count and add up all the votes cast in the polling stations of the District;
2. confirm the void votes of all the polling stations in the district;
3. reach decisions about the disputed votes;
4. count the number of valid votes cast for each association/party in the district
election;
151 Amended by t he 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 152 Amneded slightly by the 1 st Amendments Schedule 153 Amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 154 Amended by the 1 st Amendments Schedule (2009). 155 Five was the number indicated in the 1 st Amendments Schedule, but this should have been (and
was not) changed to read “eleven” copies. If one adds up the number of copies ment ioned in sub
clauses (b) to (c) of this Clause, then the number of copies one starts with should be eleven. This is
appears to be an obvious drafting error and the NEC would be should ensure that Regional
Electoral Offices are aware of this error and that eleven copies should be provided.

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5. divide the total number of valid votes cast in the district by the number of
seats
156 of the local district, and calculate the proportion of the votes each
association/party has gained;
6. confirm the number of local seats each association/party is entitled to;
7. declare then the names of the candidates of each association/party who have
won the election, in the sequence
157 ; of their positions in the lists as set out in
Article 23 of this Law ;
8. declare publicly the result of the district election and display on the notice-
board of the District Electoral Office the names of the successful candidates.

Article 60: Forwarding the Records
1. The records of the activities set out in Articles 55, 56 and 58 of this Law shall
be noted on the appropriate forms designed by the Commission for these
purposes, and must kept in triplicate.
2. The copies of the records shall be distributed as set out in Articles 55 and 58
of this Law.

Article 61: Issuing Resolution Relating to the Local Elections
The District Electoral Office shall issue the resolution relating to the district
elections by means of a concise written notice setting out the names of the
candidates who were successful in the local elections, which shal l be displayed at
the administration office of the relevant local government, and copied to the
Central (Electoral) Office.

Article 62: The Review of the Local Elections
1. The Chairman of the Regional Court shall review and confirm the resolution
relating to the local elections. He shall reach decisions about any disputes or
complaints
158 which have arisen during the voting activities and have been
generally forwarded to him by the District Electoral Office(s)
159 .
156 This will give the quota (or quotient) of votes for each seat (the Hare Quota). Seats are then
allocated for each full quota that a party/association obtains. As there is no further prescription
about any remaining seat s, it is submitted that these will be assigned on the basis of largest
remainders. This is, in effect the ‘quotient and largest remainders’ proportional representation
system which was set out in the first post 1991 Somaliland Elections Bill (2000) and was used in
the last 1969 democratic elections in the Somali Republic. See also Article 22 of this Law.
157 The sequence of names is only for the purposes of declaring the results and has no bearing on
the allocation of seats in the open list electoral syste m- see Article 22 and the definition of “lists” in
Article 1 of this Law.
158 The 2012 Electoral Code of Conduct sets up mechanisms for conflict resolution between the
parties/associations and for dealing with complaints during the election campaign through the
auspices of an independent Election Monitoring Committee (EMC). The parties/associations have
agreed in p aragraph 19 and 20 of the Code to settle all disputes amicably and to forward any
complaints relating to compliance with the Code to the EMC. Paragraph 22 of the Code deals in
detail with the appointment, duties and powers of the EMC. The aim is to ensu re that, as far as
possible, disputes are resolved early by the EMC so that free and fair elections can be held.
Also to foster better understanding and communication between the political
parties/associations/NEC, Paragraph 16 of the Code states that an Inter Party/Association
Advisory Committee consisting of representatives of the parties, associations and the NEC shall be
set up from 1 October 2012
159 The Regional Court, like the Regional Electoral Office, covers all the districts in the region – see
Ar ticle 12 of the Organisation of the Judiciary Law 2003 (the 49 Article version).

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2. The Regional Court has jurisdiction to deal with claims relating to the district
elections, which should reach the Regional Court registry within 7 (seven)
160
days beginning from the date
161 the district offices of the National Electoral
Commission announce the district elections resolutions as set out in Article 61
of Law No. 20/2001 ( this Law). Any complaints
162 which are not submitted
within the legal limitation period shall be null and void.
163
3. The Regional Court must reach a decision within 10 (ten) days beginning from
the date the claim reached the relevant Regional Court registry. Any party
164
(side) to the claim who is dissatisfied with the decision of the Regional Court
must submit
165 his appeal when the decision is announced and must register
the appe al within a period of 2 (two) days of the date the Court announced its
decision. The Regional Court shall forward ( the appeal) to the Supreme Court
within 2 (two) days. If, however, the party (side) does not submit his appeal
on the same day ( as the decision), it shall have no right for its claim to be
forwarded to the Supreme Court
166 .
4. The decisions of the Regional Court may be appealed to the Supreme Court,
which is also the Constitutional Court
167 . The Supreme Court shall issue its
ruling and final de cision within ten (10) days.
168

Article 63: The Work of the Central Electoral Office
1. On receipt of the materials and the written records set out in Article 60 of this
Law, the Chairman of the Commission shall:
a) instruct the assistants and the secretariat to get ready for the tasks;
b) call the agents of the associations/parties so that they can be present
during the conduct of the (election) activities;
c) check, together with others, that the envelopes are sealed and have not
been opened and then open them and remove the materials therein;
d) after checking, together with others, that the envelopes are sealed and
have not been opened, open the envelope containing the stamp of the
160 The changes to this article have been inserted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule. The previous
period for claims was ten (10) days.
161 In common law jurisdictions, this has been interpreted as meaning that the first date is
counted, but, the practice in Somaliland has been to count the period of 7 (or, as set out in the
following sub clause the periods of 10 0r 2 days) from the day following the announcement or
incident. (Article 110 of the 1974 Civil Procedure Code lays down the general rule for calculation
of time limits in civil matter Article 88 of t he 1963 Criminal Procedure Code deals with the same
issues in criminal matters).
162 Complaints (cabasho in Somali) includes claims (dacwado). 163 Clause amended by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012). 164 In the sense of a side to a claim/litigation rather than in sense of a political party. 165 Although the word “register” is used here, as well , I have translated this immediate indication
of a wish to appeal as a submission, which must be followed by a registration of the appeal at the
Regional Court Registry within 2 days. It would not make sense if the immediate requirement is
the same as that which can also be done with 2 days. The appealing party naturally requires time
to consider its position and seek legal advice. The same day submission is , however , still
necessary, as without it, the 2 day period of appeal will not be gained.
166 This last sentence is very poorly drafted. It appears to relate to the initial same day submission
of the appeal . It should have , in my view, come earlier in the sub clause as, for example, non –
compliance with the other limitation period of 2 days for registration of the appeal will also have a
similar effect.
167 The reference to the Constitutional Court is irrelevant as the appeal is to the Supreme Court
sitting as the Supreme Court and NOT as the Constitutional Court.
168 Clause 3 and 4 were inserted by the 4 th Amendments Schedule (2012).

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electoral office and note in the written record the number of the stamp;
(and)
e) pass t he remaining materials on to the Secretary.
2. The Central Electoral Office shall then confirm the receipt of the written
records set out in Article 60 of this Law which are expected from the District
and Regional Electoral Offices.

Article 64: The Declarati on of the Result of the Presidential Elections
When the Chairman of the Commission receives from the District and Regional
Electoral Offices (all the written records
169 ), he shall:
a) reach decisions about the claims relating to the voting and the count;
b) count and add up (arithmetically
170 ) the valid votes and the incorrect or
invalid votes which have been forwarded by the Regional Electoral Offices;
c) having confirmed fully and being satisfied that the (election) activities have
been conducted properly, declare the provisional results of the elections of the
President and the Vice- President.

Article 65: Elections claims
1. The Supreme Court shall have (the sole) jurisdiction to deal with claims
relating to the elections of the President and the Vice- President. These claims
must reach the Court office within 10 days
171 , beginning from the date when
the National Electoral Commission declares the provisional results. The
Supreme Court must reach decisions about these claims before the expiry of
the constitutional (presidential term) period
172 . If a claim falls outside the
limitation period, it shall not be considered.
2. On receipt of the written records from the Regional Electoral Offices
173 and
from the Central Office of the Commission, and having checked that the
elect ion has been conducted properly in law and in the way the calculations
were done, the Supreme Court shall declare the result of the election of the
President and the Vice- President.

Article 66: The use and implementation of the amendments to the Election
Law No. 20/2001
1. ( The original 2001 Law) : This Law shall come shall come into force when the
President signs it, and it is published in the Official Bulletin of the State.
174
2. (T he 1
st Amendments Schedule): 1. The amendments to the Election Law No.
20/2001 shall be used only in every election held in the country of the
Republic of Somaliland which is based on a voter registration electoral system .
2. The (1
st) Amendments Schedule s hall come into force when the Pres ident
signs it, and it is published in the Official Bulletin of the State.
175
169 See the preceding Article 63(2). 170 This phrase which appears in parenthesis in the Somali text is presumably used to emphasise
that the job involves calculating the sums only and not recounting the actual votes.
171 This time limit reduced from 20 days by the 2 nd Amendments Schedule. 172 The period referred to here is the maximum of one month after the polling date set out in
Article 83(2) and 83(3) of the Constitution.
173 See also Article 58(3)(b) of this Law. 174 The President first signed this 2001 Law on 6 December 2001 and it came into force on that
date. The House of Representatives approved this Law on 14 November 2001 (Resolution of the
House GW/KF 15/200/2001).
175 The Ist Amendments Schedule (2009) came into for ce on 29 July 2009.

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3. (The 2 nd A mendments Schedule): The Amendments to Law No. 20/2001 shall
come into force when pas sed by legislative houses and signed by the
President .
176
4. (The 3
rd Amendments Schedule): Came into force when signed by the
President.
177
5. (The 4
th Amendments Schedule): The Amendments to Law No. 20/2001 and its
1
st, 2 nd and 3 rd Schedules shall come into force when passed by legislative
houses and signed by the President.
178
6. (The 5
th Amendments Schedule): The Amendments to Law No. 20/2001 and its
3
rd and 4 th Amendments shall come into force when passed by legislative
houses and signed by the President.
179

Praise be to Allah

Mohamad Hussain Osman
General Secretary, House of
Representatives

Abulqadir H. Ismail Jirdeh
A/C Chairman, House of
Representatives

176 The 2nd Amendments Schedule (2010) came into force on 17 May 2010. 177 The 3rd Amendments Schedule (2011) came into force on 13 December 2011. 178 The 4th Amendments Schedule (2012) came into force on 25 July 2012. 179 The 5th Amendments Schedule (2012) came into force on 07 August 2012.

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The Articles of the Law Amended by the 5 Amendments Schedules and inserted in this
Consolidated Text of the Law and its Amendments

Art . Schedule 1 Schedule 2 Schedule 3 Schedule 4 Schedule 5
1 1(List/List )
5 5(4) 5(5) 5(4) deleted
6 6(1), 6(6) 6(1) deleted
7 7(1) 7(1)
9 9(4) to 9(6)
12 12(2)
16 16(1) 16(1)
17 17(1), 17(3)
19 19(1), 19(7)
20 20(2) Previous
Clause 2 deleted

22 22(1) to 22(3) 22(1), 22(2) 22(1)
23 23(5) to 23(7) 23(3) deleted
24 24(1) to 24(3) 24(1) to 24(3)
25 25(a), 25(b)
26 26(1)
27 27(3)
28 28(2) 28(3) 28(4)
29 29(1), (2)
30 30(1)
32 32(3) 32(3), 32(4)
33 33(4)
37 37(1) l, m, n
37(3) f
37(5) a, b,c
37(6) deleted
37(1)n – deleted 37(1) l,m,n – deleted
37(3) f – deleted
37(5) a, b

39 Heading
39(3)
39(3) deleted
42 42(1)a, 42(5) 42(1)a – deleted
45 45(1), (2), (3) 45(1), 45(2) 45(1) to 45(3) –
deleted

46 46(2)
47 47(1) to 47(13) 47(7) deleted
(and again in the
4th Schedule )
47(1) b & c deleted
47(6)
47(7), 47(8)a to e
deleted
47(9) & 47(12)
deleted

51 51(1), 51(4),
51(5)
51(5)
52 52(1), 52(2)
54 54(1), 54(2) 54(1), 54(2)
55 55(3) deleted
56 56(3) deleted
57 57(1) to 57(9) 57(2) & 57(3)
57(8), 57(8)e, 57(9)

58 58(1) to 58(3) 58(2)d
58(3) a to d

62 62(2) to 62(4)
65 65(1)
66 60(1) – 60(2) 66(3) 66 66