Somaliland opposition says poll recount puts it ahead

The main opposition party in the self-declared republic of Somaliland says its recount of last week's vote in presidential elections shows it to be ahead of the declared winner.

Usman Abdillahi Egal, the head of the Hargeysa branch of Kulmiye (Solidarity) Party, told IRIN that a recount of last week's votes showed that its presidential candidate, Ahmad Muhammad Silanyo, was ahead of the declared winner, President Dahir Riyale Kahin, by 76 votes.

"We have recounted the votes and it shows that we are ahead," he said. "We have informed the election commission."

The Somaliland Election Commission (SEC) on Saturday declared Kahin of the Unity of Democrats Party (UDUB) the winner of Somaliland's first multiparty presidential election, which was held on 14 April.

The decision was, however, challenged by the Kulmiye candidate, who told IRIN that the party "categorically rejects" the results of last week's elections "as they have been announced".

"It was discovered that votes from Gara'ad and Burao, which were cast in favor of Kulmiye, were mistakenly counted and credited to UDUB," Usman said. "They simply made a mistake of calculations during counting."

The SEC chairman, Ahmad Haji Ali Adami, told IRIN that he was present when Kulmiye came forward with the new figures, "but the commission still stands by the figures it released on Saturday". According to these figures, Kahin won by 80 votes.

"It is now out of our hands. They [Kulmiye] have to take their evidence to the constitutional court and let the court decide," he added.