Commissioner Musa Hassan Yussuf, Chairman of the Somaliland electoral body, cautioned stakeholders against the spread of fake, pre-results election figures aiming to establish margins in voter turnover at polling stations and the parties and associations people voted for.
“The Somaliland Electoral Commission strongly advises stakeholders not to post or spread results that had not been verified or officially disseminated by the responsible electoral body,” Commissioner Musa said, speaking to the media Thursday.
The head commissioner pointed out that vying for attention by posting unofficial figures could prove detrimental to the smooth course polling has been characterized with since Wednesday when polling was conducted across the country.
“Social media influencers and reporters must exercise responsibility and stop spreading unreliable figures that could be concocted and put together by anybody presenting them as genuine items,” the Chairman said. “Likewise,politicians spouting caustic, incensing statements must cease doing so. One must not detract from the sense of nationhood and responsibility voters have shown in yesterday’s election at the polling station. We advise an immediate stop to such behavior”.
Commissioner Musa explained the process the announcement of the final results and their ratification of the Somaliland Constitutional Court of the results. Official preliminary results are scheduled to be aired on the 21st.
The ninth one-person-one-vote election of Wednesday, 13November, to decide a president for the next five years and the three constitutional national parties to stay in office for the coming 10 years, was observed by 28 international observers from 13 countries outside of Somaliland,including the United States and the United Kingdom.
