21
Planning Unit at University College London and Somaliland Focus were “invited in January
2009 by Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission to act as coordinators of the international
observation mission for presidential elections” and fielded a team of 59 election observers
representing 16 countries
40
with funding from the British Embassy in Addis Ababa. The
European Commission provided in-kind air transportation for Progressio’s observers from
Nairobi to Hargeisa.
41
IRI also deployed a 19-member delegation, with funding from USAID,
to observe the election with representatives from the Czech Republic, Kenya, Nigeria, Norway,
Sierra Leone, Serbia, Spain and the United States.
Domestic observers were also trained to observe Election Day processes with support from the
international community:
I
n mid-2008, the European Union initiated funding for training of local observers
through a new community-based umbrella organization, the Somaliland Non-
State Actors Forum. In order to distance the European Union from a perception
that they were providing support for national elections in an unrecognized state,
Somaliland Non-State Actors Forum funds were to be channeled through the
United Kingdom-based international NGO Saferworld…With Election Day
looming, it was clear that Somaliland Non-State Actors Forum would be unable
to provide the necessary complement of observers in time, so the training
program was augmented by three major NGO umbrella organizations, Nagaad
(the network of women’s organizations), the Somaliland National Youth
Organization and the Forum for Peace and Governance. In the event, some 800
local observers were trained (500 by Somaliland Non-State Actors Forum and
300 more through Nagaad, Somaliland National Youth Organization and the
Forum for Peace and Governance).
42
2012 Local Council Elections
DFID funded the program to support the 2012 local council elections in Somaliland, the
Somaliland Elections Project, which incorporated six implementing partners: IRI, Oxfam, the
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Interpeace, Progressio and Saferworld.
IRI, Interpeace and Progressio implemented the “supply” side of the Somaliland Elections
Project. IRI worked with Somaliland’s three existing political parties as well as newly formed
political associations to develop their capacity to compete in the local council elections,
conducted campaign schools for women and youth candidates and, working with the Academy
for Peace and Development, trained 9,374 poll agents. IRI also worked with the Registration of
Political Associations and Approval of Political Parties Committee to build its capacity to
establish a strategic plan, build stronger relationships with political parties and associations and
40
Progressio’s observation team represented 16 countries including Argentina, Canada, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Uganda, the United Kingdom
and the United States of America. Somalilanders living in the diaspora comprised 40 percent of the observation
team.
41
Walls, Michael, and Steve Kibble.
Somaliland Change and Continuity: Report by International Election
Observers on the June 2010 Presidential Elections in Somaliland
. Rep. London: Progressio, 2011. Print.
42
Walls, Michael, and Steve Kibble.
Somaliland Change and Continuity: Report by International Election
Observers on the June 2010 Presidential Elections in Somaliland
. Rep. London: Progressio, 2011. Print, p. 9-10.
