The recently completed presidential election in Somaliland was the world’s first to use iris recognition to create a voter registration list and remove duplicate names from the rolls. The iris-based biometric technology, from Iris ID, helped ensure a free and fair election, so important for the autonomous state to gain the international recognition it seeks.
A 60-member team of international observers, representing 27 countries, certified the November election as free and fair – a change from previous elections in which duplicate registrations led to questions about the legitimacy of the results. Somaliland, located on the Horn of Africa, declared its independence from Somalia in 1991. “In a world-first, these elections employed pioneering iris-recognition technology to register and identify voters, which is a testament to Somaliland’s commitment to its resources in democratic institutions and the rule of law,” said the new president, Muse Bihi Abdi, in a column for the Financial Times.
