Somaliland: Sources of Campaign Financing

Looking in to the case of Somaliland, one realizes that there is much that needed to be done. In contemporary Somaliland political history, political financing is both necessity and a problem. There are no strong laws and regulations regarding the party and political financing in Somaliland. It is obvious that some of the political parties are owned by certain clans. The patriotic or ideological values among the parties have limited value within the party. Now, Somaliland democratization process is in a crossroad, which need re-evaluation, about what is wrong and the weaknesses of the democratic process which is 16 years old.

CPA has interviewed 30 individuals, whom 21 of them were from the three political parties in Somaliland, namely KULMIYE, UCID and WADANI. Seven (7) key informants were selected from each party, including senior party members, some of the presidential candidates and other individuals who were responsible for party finance units. Moreover, 9 other individuals from civil society and the international organizations were also interviewed; those individuals were independent from the political parties.

These individuals have been selected due to their extensive knowledge on the subject matter. All interviews were carried out anonymously to protect the privacy of the individuals and to let them express their ideas openly. The research was started on February 2018