Municipal elections were held across Somaliland on 15 December 2002. Six political associations fielded 2,368 candidates to contest 379 local council seats in nineteen of Somaliland's twenty-three electoral districts.[1]
Long queues of voters in the Somaliland municipal elections
Prior to these elections, local government only consisted of a mayor and a councillor both appointed by the Ministry of Interior by the recommendation of the President.[1] These elections would pave way for the establishment of popularly-elected local governments that were directly responsible to local constituencies.[citation needed]
Somaliland portal 