Municipal elections were held across

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

on 15 December 2002. Six political associations fielded 2,368 candidates to contest 379 local council seats in nineteen of Somaliland's twenty-three electoral districts. Somaliland municipal local elections

Prior to these elections, local government only consisted of a mayor and a councillor both appointed by the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

by the recommendation of the President. These elections would pave way for the establishment of popularly-elected local governments that were directly responsible to local constituencies.

Political associations

The

Constitution of Somaliland The Constitution of the Republic of Somaliland ( so, Dastuurka Jamhuuriyadda Somaliland; ar, دستور جمهورية صوماليلاند) is the supreme source of national law of Somaliland, adopted by the Houses of the Parliament of So ...

stipulated that only three

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

could exist at any one time. As a result, the three associations that gained the largest numbers of local council seats would become the official political parties and enjoyed exclusive legitimacy for the next ten years .A political organisation had to achieve 20% of the vote in at least four of Somaliland's six

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in order to become a national party and contest presidential and parliamentary elections. The contenders that took part in this process included: *

Peace, Unity, and Development Party The Kulmiye Peace, Unity and Development Party ( so, Xisbiga Kulmiye Nabad, Midnimo iyo Horumarka; ar, حزب التضامن), also known as simply Kulmiye (), is a political party in Somaliland. The party was founded by Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ...

(Kulmiye) headed by

Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud "Silanyo" ( so, Axmed Maxamed Maxamuud Siilaanyo, ar, احمد محمد محمود سيلانيو) (born 1938) is a Somaliland politician who was President of Somaliland from 2010–2017. He is a long-time member of the go ...

United Peoples' Democratic Party The United Peoples' Democratic Party (), shortened UDUB, was one of the three political parties in Somaliland. It was founded by president Egal in July 2001 in the preparation of the elections, which were originally scheduled for December 2001, ...

(UDUB) led by President

Muhammad Haji Ibrahim Egal Mohamed Haji Ibrahim Egal ( so, Maxamed Xaaji Ibraahim Cigaal, ar, محمد الحاج ابراهيم عقال; August 15, 1928 – May 3, 2002) was a Somali politician who served as the President of Somaliland from 1993 to his death in 2002. H ...

For Justice and Development The Justice and Welfare Party ( so, Ururka Caddaalada iyo Daryeelka, UCID; ar, حزب العدالة والتنمية), sometimes translated as the Justice and Welfare Association, is the oldest political party in Somaliland. The party tends to ...

(UCID) led by

Faysal Ali Warabe Faysal Ali Warabe ( ; so, Faysal Cali Waraabe, ar, فيصل علي ورابي; born 1948), also spelled Faisal Ali Warabe, is a Somaliland, Somalilander engineer and politician. He previously served as Director of Planning and Building as well a ...

* Sahan led by Dr Mohamed Abdi Gaboose * Asad led by Suleiman Mohamoud Adan * Hormood led by

Umar Ghalib Umar Arteh Ghalib or Omer Carte Qalib ( so, Cumar Carte Qaalib, ar, عمر عرتي غالب) (1930 – 18 November 2020) was a Somali politician. He was Prime Minister of the Somali Democratic Republic from January 24, 1991 to May 1993. Previou ...

Results

Over 440,000 people took part in the country's first municipal elections. Results were announced a week later by the National Electoral Commission, with UDUB, Kulmiye and UCID finishing as the top three parties.

Aftermath

The elections were viewed largely as a success and was an essential step in the transition from a clan-based formed of governance to a democracy. Political associations that ranked fourth or lower ceased to exist. Although Sahan passed the threshold of receiving 20% of the votes in at least four regions and UCID did not, it was decided that UCID's higher national vote share qualified it to become the third party, a controversial decision. Councillors from the associations that were dissolved were subsequently required to join one of the newly appointed national parties, UDUB, Kulmiye or UCID.

References

{{Somaliland elections 2002 elections in Africa 2002 in Somaliland Elections in Somaliland December 2002 events in Africa