Election support to Somaliland

Sida supported this nine-month project to provide electoral operations support to the National Election Commission (NEC) from December 2020 to August 2021. NEC was able to successfully undertake its first combined election, encompassing the parliamentary election, last held in 2005, and the local council elections, last held in 2012. The main phases were voter registration, pre-election day, election day, post-election day. The voter registration process culminated with a final voter list of 497,002 voters, 46.6% women and 53% under 25 years of age. NEC, for the first time, updated the voter register, in which 423,959 new voters were registered - a nearly 50% increase in registered voters. The voter registration process also gave an opportunity for 34,658 existing voters to change their biographic information and polling station while 21,051 who had lost their voter cards updated their information. Over 338,954 new voter cards were distributed and 24,168 voters who registered in 2016 had the opportunity to collect their voter cards. Due to tight timeline between registration and voter card distribution, those changing their biographic information were given a secure voter certificate in lieu of a voter card that could be redeemed after the election. In pre-election preparations, the political parties code of conduct was agreed upon between NEC and the three political parties, Waddani, Kulmiye and UCID, proposing a women's quota of six female candidates per party for the House of Representatives, there was no quota for the local councils. Only Waddani upheld this quota. NEC vetted the candidates for both the parliamentary and local council elections to arrive at 246 (13 women) and 522 (15 women) respectively. NEC procured the sensitive (ballots, ballot boxes) and non-sensitive election material through difficulties given covid-19 restrictions and delays. All material arrived in the country two-weeks to election day. NEC facilitated training for 107 trainers of trainers (69 district election offices and 18 regional election officers), who were deployed to the regions and districts to deliver a two-day training to 6,056 core polling staff. The training was on the legal framework, voting procedures and counting procedures. Further to this, NEC facilitated the recruitment of 5,902 non-core staff that would joining the core polling staff on election day. A total of 12,048 field staff was recruited. Due to covid-19 restrictions, NEC set an official campaign period of six days, two days per party, held a week to the election day with restrictions on where the campaigns could be held. Unofficially candidates had been campaigning through social media and advertising. Election day: On 31 May 2021, NEC successfully undertook two concurrent elections with negligible incidents. The elections were held in 2,709 polling stations covering 22 districts. A total of 768 candidates (28 women) contested for the 82 House of Representative seats and 249 local council seats. No woman was elected in the House of Representatives, three women were elected to the Local Council, and one male minority clan candidate was elected. Two international observer missions and one local observer mission concluded that the elections were fair and credible. The Embassy sent over two staff members to join the diplomatic mission who witnessed the elections in different regions. Post-election: NEC collected all the sensitive and non-material from the polling stations and began a review of the performance in the election with stakeholders. There was a general acceptance of the results with few complaints. NEC undertook a retreat in Nairobi in November to undertake an internal review and consolidate comments from stakeholders. NEC capacity has been strengthened in the process as they were able to deliver two elections at the same time. The legal framework of the electoral process including the code of conducts with political parties, media, electoral law, women's quota, election monitoring board as part of the dispute mechanism and coordination of stakeholders has been strengthened. Despite covid-19 restrictions and limitations, NEC managed to deliver the two elections in time. Gender considerations: One woman was elected as Mayor in Buhoodle district. It was noted that women candidates did receive historic numbers of votes. In three instances, women candidates lost by 1 or 2 seats, or 200-300 votes. There were competitive numbers of votes for women candidates that were endorsed by their clans, as well as women that were not endorsed by their clans, indicating a possible shift both in terms of traditional political structures, and in how voters select their candidates. Sida provided a gender adviser to enable NEC look inwardly on gender mainstreaming and in their implementation as well, Folke Bernadotte Academy worked to complete a full institutional gender assessment. This prompted the NEC to increase efforts to recruit women to staff both voter registration and polling stations, who were noted by observers to be highly efficient in their work. Financials: UNOPS, an intermediary pay agent on behalf of the EU, supported the set up of a basket fund to which Sida and FCDO could provide grant-based support totaling $3,357,865. From these funds, an interest income was $1,429 and foreign exchange gains of $63,857 were earned. Sida and FCDO approved the use of the interest income and foreign exchange gains. This made the total amount to the project as $ 3,423,151. The interim financial summary received in November indicates unspent funds of $35,431 and did not include the foreign exchange gains. UNOPS noted this and committed to have the conclusive details in the final financial report due in February 2022 and will send a revised version of the final narrative report.

The main objective of the intervention is to contribute to the effective implementation of free and fair combined parliamentary and local council elections in Somaliland, to be held in May 2021, through the provision of targeted support to the needs of the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which is managing the electoral process. Leveraging on the EU Partnerships Facility support to the NEC coordinated by UNOPS, Sida and UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) pooled resources,5MSEK and 2,037,976GBP respectively, totalling $3,357,865 through a multi-donor mechanism to provide grant-based electoral operations support to the NEC during the election preparation period. Desired outcomes The immediate funding gaps preventing NEC from meeting its obligations under its mandate to hold combined elections in Somaliland are met through a joint international multi-donor mechanism; The NEC's capacity is strengthened with the necessary equipment and personnel to support the preparatory and election activities, facilitated by a team of international experts; The NEC and political parties work together to enable women and marginalised group candidates to get elected and increase their numbers at Parliament and Local Council level; Democratisation through elections has advanced, with the electoral processes being successfully supported and facilitated.