Somaliland politics in 2022 was centred around one question: which elections should come first: presidential elections or party elections. My position has been, we need new parties in Somaliland but we don't need party elections.
I believe that fair and democratic elections are crucial for Somaliland. Unfortunately, the current political landscape is restrictive, with only three parties allowed to participate, and a ten-year waiting period for other political associations to compete again. This unfair monopoly on elections has been one of the main criticisms of Somaliland's political process
It is important to note that the ruling party, Kulmiye, benefited the most from this monopoly, while opposition parties UCID and Waddani had to compromise a few times when elections are delayed. For example, they missed the presidential and Guurti elections which benefit the ruling party.
Currently, there are no legal political parties in Somaliland as the 10-year license expired in DEC 2022. Somaliland has now 13 political associations that can only hold what Somaliland calls "party elections" followed by presidential elections. However, the ongoing war in Sool and attacks on Somaliland make it challenging to proceed with this plan.
While I have always supported the creation of new political associations, I disagreed with the decision to hold "party elections" as a means of delivering multi-party elections. Instead, I propose that to allow all 13 political associations to take part in the presedential elections. Not only this spares Somaliland from yet another type of election but will also it provides a better and more inclusive democracy.