Elections in the Somali state of Puntland were a mixed bag. The vote was peaceful, but it followed an indirect model in which most have no voice. The re-elected president should reconcile with opponents while Somalia draws wider lessons from a failed experiment with democratisation.
Puntland, Somalia's oldest federal state, held polls on 8 January, an exercise that came off peacefully despite concerns that bitter disagreements over the electoral model would trigger violence. Under considerable pressure, President Said Abdullahi Deni had agreed just a month beforehand to maintain the clan-based indirect model, ditching a planned shift to universal suffrage.
Thirdly, Puntland's government organised the presidential vote and undertook wide-ranging changes to electoral laws without sufficient consultation with important political forces. The opposition cried foul, saying the government was tilting the system in its own favour.
The peaceful vote gives the wounds inflicted during the campaign a chance to heal. To be sure, tensions remain, with a smattering of politicians and clan elders loath to accept Deni's victory. But without the spectre of a looming election, the intensity of intra-elite disputes should subside. After the January vote, the opposition committed to working with the government. In the spirit of conciliation, Deni's administration should continue to provide opportunities for collaboration.
Secondly, Garowe needs to mend its frayed ties with Mogadishu. Deni fell out with Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud after allying with him against Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed"Farmajo", the previous incumbent who lost the 2022 vote. Deni harboured presidential ambitions of his own, and his relations with the victor have been frosty since the vote. Mogadishu and Garowe also spar over how to divide power and resources within Somalia's federation.
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