February 2024 -Hargeisa-

In 2001, the constitution of Somaliland was approved in a national referendum. Prior to the approval of the constitution, delegates of clans used to elect the president, the vice president, and the members of the Parliament. The constitution, however, obligated elections of universal suffrage. Article 9 – the only article in the constitution that is about political parties – states that:
- The number of political parties in the Republic of Somaliland shall not exceed three.
- It is unlawful for any political party to be based on regionalism and clannism.
With such limited information in the constitution, deciding how parties should be formed (not exceeding three) and how to avoid parties based on regionalism and clannism became difficult. The drafters of the Political Parties Certification and Associations Registration Act, Law No. 14, in 2001 came up with the following two solutions:
- Before establishing three political parties, political associations will first be formed, and they will compete, where three will qualify as political parties.
- To answer the question of how to avoid parties based on regionalism and clannism, the drafters of Law No. 14/2001 included two requirements:
- Each political association shall have members in all six regions. For example, if a political association fails to have members in one region, it will not be allowed to compete elections. So, having minimum members in all regions was (is) a must.
- In the elections, the drafters imposed a requirement for party qualification elections where every party/association should secure a minimum of 20% in each region to become eligible to become a national party. If a party/association does not secure a 20% threshold, the party/association with the highest percentages in regions shall become a national party.
Such formula was used in the elections that took place in 2002 and 2012. The Political Parties Certification and Associations Registration Act, Law No. 14, was amended several times. In all amendments, the two above articles were never changed because they were based on a constitutional principle.
Moreover, in the recent amendments to the law made in 2023/2024, this article was not changed and remained intact. However, it was included in the Elections Act. This is because the Parliament decided in 2020 to include all election-related issues in a compiled single law, and that is the Elections Act, Law No. 91/2020 (now Law No. 91/2023).