MOGADISHU: In preparation for the dangerous nation’s national elections scheduled for 2026, Somalia on Tuesday announced voter registration in the capital city of Mogadishu for the first time in over 50 years.
With the passage of legislation approved by parliament, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged last year to finish the difficult clan-based direct election system that had been in position since 1969.
In Shangani, a neighborhood in Mogadishu, dozens of people were queuing up to file, according to an AFP reporter who witnessed the beginning of enrollment.
The west African nation is scheduled to hold regional elections in June using the one-person one-vote system, ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for 2026.
Information Minister Daud Aweis stated on X that” people in Mogadishu have begun to register to vote and collect their voting tickets, making a major step toward universal suffrage.”
After Siad Barre oversaw the government in 1969, Somalia’s system of direct ballot was overthrown. Since his demise in 1991, the region’s political system has been centered on a clan-based architecture.
Puntland, a semi-autonomous state, held regional elections by strong ballot in 2023, but it later reversed plans to use the system for local and regional leadership elections in early last year.
In neighboring Somaliland, which declared freedom in 1991 but has never been recognized abroad, primary election has also been conducted.
Somalia is struggling to get out of years of conflict and conflict, suffering from frequent natural disasters and an armed Islamist rebellion.
