Somaliland’s House of Elders approves multi-year term extensions for itself and presidentÂ
Source: Hiiraan Online, Saturday October 1, 2022
Hargeisa (HOL) – Somaliland House of Elders extended President Muse Bihi Abdi’s term of office by two years on Saturday, and the tenure of the House of Elders was also extended by five years.
Members of the House voted by a majority vote to extend the term of the president and the mandate of the office of the senate.
Lawmaker Omar Nur Waye, the lone member who did not vote on the extension, said there should have been more dialogue before the decision.
Somaliland’s opposition parties said they would not accept an extension for President Bihi without consultation.
Last Saturday, Somaliland’s electoral commission announced that technical and financial issues meant the poll could not go ahead.
The commission did not set a potential new date, saying there would be “a nine-month delay from October 1, 2022.”
Muse Bihi Abdi was elected president of the self-proclaimed republic on the Horn of Africa on a five-year mandate in 2017, and the election was scheduled for November 13, a month before his term expires.