House of Elders (Somaliland)

House of Elders

Golaha Guurtida
مجلس الشيوخ
Seal of the House of Elders of Somaliland.
Type
Type
History
Founded1993
Leadership
Speaker
Suleiman Mohamoud Adan
since August 28, 2004
Structure
Seats82 members
Length of term
6 years [1]
Meeting place
Hargeisa
Website
www.govsomaliland.org/hoe
Footnotes
House of Elders on Facebook

The House of Elders (Somali: Golaha Guurtida, Arabic: مجلس الشيوخ, romanizedmajlis ash-Shuyūkh), also known as the Guurti, is the upper house of the Parliament of Somaliland.[2][3] It has 82 members, representing traditional leaders. The House of Elders is mandated with considering bills proposed by the lower house of the parliament, the Somaliland House of Representatives.[4][5][6]

Somaliland National Charter of 1993 established bicameral legislature.[7] It was at a national gathering of clan elders at the 1993 conference in Boorama that delegates assigned the Guurti the role of peacemaker and upper house of the legislature.[8] The term of office for the House of Elders is six years, but it has never been re-elected since it was founded in 1993.[9]

In contrast, members of the Somaliland's House of Representatives, Somaliland's Lower house, are elected through democratic elections.

According to the Somaliland Constitution, the House of Elders has the power to reject a resolution of the House of Representatives, but the will of the House of Representatives prevails if the resolution is re-passed by a 2/3 majority of the House of Representatives.[10]

Somaliland's political form is not yet stable, and although the term of office for the House of Representatives is constitutionally set at five years, actual elections for members have only been held twice until 2023, in 2005 and 2021, due to various circumstances. The House of Elders plays an important role in extending the term of the House of Representatives. The term of office of the President is also set at five years, but the term has always been extended in the past, and the House of Elders plays an important role in this as well.

  1. ^ "Somaliland Constitution". www.somalilandlaw.com.
  2. ^ Republic of Somaliland: Country Profile 2021 (PDF). Somaliland Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. March 2021. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  3. ^ "Golaha guurtida Somaliland goormey howlgab noqonayaan?". BBC News Somali. 21 January 2019.
  4. ^ Bahcheli, Tozun; Bartmann, Barry; Srebrnik, Henry (9 September 2004). De Facto States: The Quest for Sovereignty. Routledge. ISBN 1135771200 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Salih, Mohamed Abdel Rahim Mohamed; Wohlgemuth, Lennart (4 June 1994). Crisis Management and the Politics of Reconciliation in Somalia: Statements from the Uppsala Forum, 17-19 January 1994. Nordic Africa Institute. ISBN 9789171063564 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Gatimu, Carolyne (2004). Traditional Structures in Peace and Security Consolidation: The Case of the House of Elders (Guurti) in 'Somaliland'.
  7. ^ "Somaliland International Democratization Support Strategy". www.iri.org. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  8. ^ Renders, Marleen (2007). "Appropriate 'Governance-Technology'? Somali Clan Elders and Institutions in the Making of the 'Republic of Somaliland'". Africa Spectrum. 42 (3): 439–459. ISSN 0002-0397. JSTOR 40175204.
  9. ^ "Somaliland elections: Could polls help gain recognition?". bbc.com. 2021-05-31. Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  10. ^ "The Other Somalia: An Island of Stability in a Sea of Armed Chaos". nytimes.com. 2007-03-07. Retrieved 2021-11-07.

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