Mogadishu Residents to Vote in Municipal Elections Ahead of Landmark National Polls

Reuters

Women queue to have their biometrics recorded in Hamarweyne district of Mogadishu, Somalia 19 April 2025.

Residents of Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, will head to the polls on Thursday in municipal elections seen as a key step towards the country’s first direct national elections in more than half a century.

With the exception of votes held in the semi-autonomous Puntland region and the self-declared breakaway region of Somaliland, Somalia last conducted direct elections in 1969, just months before military general Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in a coup.

Following years of civil war after Barre’s overthrow in 1991, Somalia introduced an indirect electoral system in 2004. The approach was intended to foster consensus among rival clans amid an ongoing Islamist insurgency. However, critics argue that many politicians favour the system because it creates opportunities for corruption.

Under the indirect model, clan representatives elect lawmakers, who then choose the president. The president, in turn, appoints the mayor of Mogadishu.

The vote in Mogadishu — a city of approximately three million people — is widely viewed as a test case for direct elections at the national level. Security conditions in the capital have improved in recent years, despite continued attacks by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants.

A total of 1,605 candidates are contesting 390 seats on Mogadishu’s district councils, according to Abdishakur Abib Hayir, a member of the National Electoral Commission. The elected council members will subsequently choose the city’s mayor.

“It shows Somalia is standing on its feet and moving forward,” Hayir told Reuters. “After the local election, elections can and will take place across the entire country.”

A law passed in 2024 restored universal suffrage ahead of federal elections expected next year. However, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reached an agreement in August with several opposition leaders stipulating that, while lawmakers would be elected directly in 2026, the president would continue to be chosen by parliament.

Opposition parties have argued that the rapid rollout of a new electoral system could favour Mohamud’s re-election prospects. They have also raised concerns about security, questioning whether conditions are sufficiently stable for mass voting, given al Shabaab’s control over large parts of the countryside and its frequent attacks on major population centres.

Source: Reuters



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