Thus by the end of 1963 northern particularism appeared more and more to be finding an outlet in the Somali National Congress, and its objectives were less the division of the Republic than the downfall of the S.Y.L. government. It was this more limited, and of course entirely constitutional aim which explained the failure of the attempted coup in 1961 and the readiness with which the new northern political organizations sought to ally with those who opposed the S.Y.L. in the south. Hitherto, indeed, the integrity of the Republic had been much less seriously in danger than foreign observers had sometimes supposed. Moreover, by the end of the year, further progress had been achieved in the fuller integration of the two regions. In May, by 52 to 42 votes, the Assembly had passed legislation extending the existing southern pattern of universal suffrage to the north, where previously only men had enjoyed the right to vote. In June, Article 29 of the Constitution was revised to prohibit proselytization except by Muslims, thus standardizing the previous British Protectorate practice throughout the Republic. In August, legislation was passed unifying the regulations governing municipal and rural district councils. And by the end of the year, the lengthy and intricate task of establishing a uniform legal code was almost complete.

I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Som…, loc. 447