By After the successful presidential election that Somaliland held on November 13, the tallying of votes began and according to the sources, Muse Bihi, of the Kulmiye (ruling party) is said to be leading the race, followed by Abdirahman Irro, of the Waddani, major opposition party.
The voting process was keenly watched by a total of 60 election observers from 27 countries whose salaries were paid by Britain.
More than 700,000 people were registered and engaged in the voting around 1,600 polling stations.
However, the main opposition party says there were some irregularities practiced during the presidential election.
On Wednesday, the opposition party held a meeting with the electoral commission and the international observers, and expressed concerns of irregularities that they say happened during the election process.
On Thursday, the leaders of the Waddani party cut off cooperation with the Somaliland’s National Electoral Commission (NEC), saying that they had failed to give them an explanation to their claims.
The leaders of Waddani party said on Thursday that there were fake ballot papers used during the election.
Mohamed Yasiin, Osman Afgaab and Hussein Ahmed Aideed who are Waddani chief agent, deputy chief agent and alternate chief agent respectively have displayed several fake ballot papers during press conference in Hargeisa, and sought explanation from the NEC.
‘After the electoral commission failed to respond to our concerns over these fake papers, the Party decided to stop cooperating with the commission,’ said Yasiin.
The claims are however, dismissed by the electoral commission.
‘We have received verbal complain about election irregularities from Wadani Party but as far as we are concerned the elections were free and fair, said NEC chairman Abdikadir Oman.
Reporter: Shamilah Namuddu