Parliamentary elections were held in Somaliland on 29 September 2005.[1] They were the first multiparty parliamentary election conducted in the country.
The 82 members of the House of Representatives were elected by open list proportional representation with the six multi-member constituencies based on the regions. The number of seats for each region was based on those used for the 1960 elections and multiplied by 2.5.[2]
At the time of the elections, the constitution limited the number of political parties to three:
A total of 246 candidates contested the elections, including five women.
A team of 76 observers from Canada, Finland, Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zimbabwe monitored the polls. They described that the elections were conducted in a peaceful condition and were generally free and fair, nonetheless, the vote had fallen short of meeting several international standards.