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SOMALILAND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY: An Overview of main constitutional documents/events

1. Protection Agreements between the United Kingdom and various Somaliland Clans leading to the Somaliland Protectorate.

2. Constitutional developments in Somaliland (1946 t0 1960) and the London Constitutional Conference.

3. The first Constitution of the independent State of Somaliland 1960.

4. Constitutional documents relating to the union of Somaliland and Somalia:

• Note on the Somaliland version of the Act of Union with Somalia (Law No:1 of 1960).
• The Constitution of the Somali Republic 1960.
• Siyad  Barre Constitution 1979.

5. The Re-assertion of the Somaliland Sovereignty on 31 May 1991 at Burao Grand Conference of the Somaliland Communities. Formation of a Somaliland Government headed by a President & Vice-President.

6. The Somaliland National Charter 1993 adopted at the Borama Grand Conference of the Somaliland Communities. Election of President and Vice-President by the constituent assembly.

7. Extension of the period of the National Charter and the term of office of the President 1995.

8. The Somaliland Interim Constitution 1997 (Somali version and avialable also in an  English Translation)  adopted at the Hargeisa Grand Conference of the Somaliland Communities.

9. Extension of the period of the Interim Constitution.

10. The national Referendum on the Constitution of the Somaliland Republic held on 31 May 2001.  See the independent IRI report.

11. The formation and registration of political parties and the competition among the parties for the coveted award of becoming one of the three parties allowed under Article 9(2) of the Constitution through the popular vote in the first nation-wide (local) elections in Somaliland since 1969.

12.  The nation-wide Somaliland local district elections held in December 2002.

13. Extensions of the Term of office of the President for one year in 2001 and again for for a shorter period in 2003.

14. Transfer of office of President to Vice-President Rayale Kahin on the death of President Mohammad Haji Ibrahim Egal on 

15. Election of President through national poll- May 2003.

16. Extensions of the Term of Office of the House of Representatives for:

• One year in 2002 from 26 May 2002, marking the end of the normal five year term;
• a further two years in 2003; and finally
• 143 days in 2005 and will now expire on 16 October 2005.

17. Extension of the Term of office of the House of Elders 2003 and again in 2005.  For a discussion of the constitutional questions raised by the extensions of term of the Houses of Elders, in particular, see the following article written in 2003.

18. Election of the House of Representatives through a national poll - 29 September 2005.

19. Extension of the Term of office of the House of Elders for a further four years from October 2005 by a vote of the House of Elders on Sunday, 6th May 2006. The Elders received a proposal from the President and an ex parte advisory opinion of the Supreme Court. The decision has proved to be extremely controversial and the House of Representatives and civil groups have declared it unconstitutional. The Representatives who were already considering the House of Elders Election Bill have continued debating it and intend to pass the bill on the return from the summer recess in September 2006. For an example of the issues raised in this constitutional controversy, see the position paper by the Somaliland Forum: A term extrension too far May 2006

Information about the Court 2005 Election Law Constitutionality Referral Decision

   ARTICLES ON SOMALILAND CONSTITUTIONAL LAW:

• State- & Democracy-Building in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Case of Somaliland - A Comparative Perspective, by Federico Battera, in Global Jurist Frontiers, 2004, Volume 4, Issue 1
• Ruth Gordon, Growing Constitutions, 1 U. PA. J. CONST. L. 528