Somalia’s early republic met the three standard criteria for democratic rule

Evidence

It would appear that the Somali team and process fulfilled the three definitional criteria for democracy. Quoting others, Robert Bates notes, “Democracy can refer to political competition, and in particular, open competition among rival political parties. Others … argue that to be democratic, such a competition must take place within a setting infused with attendant rights and freedoms… . Others … would insist that even were a polity to exhibit these attributes, it could not be labeled democratic until one party had surrendered power to another upon losing a national election.” — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1152

Categorization

• DEFINE: Sets out the three definitional yardsticks—open party competition, attendant rights and freedoms, and peaceful transfer after electoral loss—that judge whether a polity is truly democratic.
• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s research purpose on Somalia’s 1960-1969 democracy: these are the criteria Aden Osman’s and Abdirazak’s government must be tested against.