The Hope of a Free And Fair Election Is Waning in Baidoa

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By: Abdulkadir M. Abow

After the resignation of the entire members of the first electoral commission and the former president in early November, a new electoral commission was installed.  The election date that was set to be on November 17th was moved to November 28th, only to be delayed twice to December 5th first and subsequently to Dismember 19th, 2018. To the best it shows a lack of capacity on the part electoral commission, or worse  they are part of conspiracy intended to rig the election for a particular candidate. In any case, considering what has happened, it is amazing the level of patience and maturity the candidates have shown to deal with this unprecedented interference.

The prospect of a fair and free election is diminishing for the highly anticipated presidential election of South West State of Somalia after being delayed for the third time for no apparent reasons. The electoral commission stated that the election day will be December 19, 2018 and the delays are due to technical reasons but some candidates believe it has to do with the Christmas holidays.

On November 30th, 2018 federal government sent plane load of soldiers to Baidoa without consulting with any of the real stakeholders – speaker of the federal parliament, members of the parliament from the region, elders and the public. A move considered blatant intervention and unconstitutional.

Electoral commission, as one of their reasons for the postponement, stated that the members of the international observers were not able to attend the December 5th election date. However, in their response, some of the candidates including Sheikh Mukhtar Roobow – front runner in this election – stated that the election was deliberately postponed to make sure that the international observers will not be able to attend December 19th, 2018 as they will be taking their Christmas holidays.

Up until the last delay it seemed the relationship of the commission and candidates was one with a mutual respect and the commission was at least consulting with the different candidates about the changes to be made on agreed items governing the election. However, on November 30, 2018, after a plane load of soldiers were brought from Mogadishu to Baidoa, you could sense that the relationship have changed. Three candidates wrote a letter of complaint about the delay and their concern about the independence of the commission.  That will have a huge impact on the legitimacy of the election and could create unnecessary conflict going forward. Before the proposed election day on November 19th , there ought to be serious efforts to discuss and come to a consensus on the issues of what to do about the election commission, soldiers being brought from Mogadishu etc.

For now, the hope of a fair election is waning by the day, to avoid bloodshed we urge the parties must remain committed to a fair and free election and avoid anything that will jeopardize the security of the region.

Abdulkadir Abow

abow@idirect.com