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The Chairmen of the opposition parties of Waddani and UCID, in a speech, rejected Guurti’s decision to extend President Bihi’s term by two years and stated that they will not recognize President Bihi as a legitimate president when his current term expires on November 13th. Somaliland Guurti has voted yesterday to extend President Muse Bihi Abdi’s term by two years and its own a full term of five years.
Mr. Abdirahman Abdillahi Cirro, the former Chairman of the Waddani party and presidential candidate, called the Guurti’s extension unconstitutional and the country’s established laws and added that the Waddani Party considers the Guurti’s action to extend President Bihi’s term as illegal and unacceptable.
Mr. Cirro accused President Bihi of scuttling all manners of negotiation and has long engaged in a pretext for an extension, such as rejecting the suggestions from independent business leaders to hold the presidential and the party elections at the same time and reiterated that his party will not accept the extension and will not recognize the President and his government as a legitimate. He added that the responsibility for any consequence of the Guurti’s decision rests with President Bihi.
Mr. Cirro concluded his speech with “Today, victory is within reach and we should prepare for presidential elections no matter what it takes. We will ensure free and fair elections take place,”.
Mr. Faysal Ali Warabe, the Chairman of UCID who also spoke at the same event, accused the President of wanting to remain at the helm of the country illegally while lacking the temperament or the discipline to lead and dividing the country and plunging it into political chaos when the world is paying particular attention to Somaliland. Mr. Faysal pointed to the Somaliland Partnership act currently in the US Senate as an example of the United States seeking to form a close partnership with Somaliland.
Mr. Faysal accused the President of spending much of his term on ways to extend his term, and remain in power than serving the public.
Mr. Faysal called the Guurti’s extension of President Bihi’s term unconstitutional as their reasoning for the extension did not basic constitutional requirements and questioned their decision to ignore the nine-month technical extension the Election Commission has announced a few days ago.
In his speech, Mr. Faysal contextualized the difference between the term extension for President Bihi and those for his predecessors and said that there has always been an atmosphere of consensus and that President Bihi has rejected any semblance of compromise. Much like Mr. Cirro of Waddani, he stated they will not accept the extension and will not recognize the President and his government as legitimate after the current legal term expires on November 13th, 2022.
Efforts to reach opposition party representatives for clarification and comment were unsuccessful. Somaliland government and ruling party spokes person did not comment on the opposition leaders to not recognize the President and his government after November 13th.