• Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia called Somaliland will not hold its presidential election in November.
• Instead, it will hold the election next year.
• This was announced by the region’s electoral body on Saturday. In August, there were deadly protests in the area.

The breakaway region of Somalia called Somaliland will not hold its presidential election in November when the current president’s term ends. Instead, it will hold the election next year. This was announced by the region’s electoral body on Saturday.

In August, there were deadly protests in the area. Demonstrators wanted elections to be held in November because they thought President Muse Bihi Abdi wanted to delay the election and stay in power for longer.

The election will now take place nine months from now, in July 2019. The current date of November 13 “is not viable due to time, technical, and financial constraints,” the Somaliland National Electoral Commission tweeted on Saturday.

Somaliland broke away from Somalia in 1991, but its independence has not been widely recognized by the rest of the world. The area has been mostly peaceful, but Somalia has been in a civil war for 30 years.

At least five people were killed and 100 were hurt when security forces and protesters from the opposition fought in August.

Wadani, one of the opposition parties that led the protests in August, was happy with the new date when it was announced at a press conference after the SLNEC’s announcement.

Mohamud Aden Jama, the information secretary for the Wadani party, told the press conference, “We welcome the decision. We congratulate them on putting an end to the controversy over the presidential election.”

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