On Thursday, Somalia’s cabinet approved a bill that, pending parliamentary confirmation, will restore universal suffrage to the country’s election system for the first time in decades, ending the current indirect voting process, according to the government’s spokesperson.
Due to widespread insecurity from an Islamist insurgency and weak state structures, lawmakers have recently elected the president, while clan heads and elders chose lawmakers for both the federal government and regional states.
Somalia had initially planned to switch to direct voting in 2020, but ongoing political disputes and persistent insecurity led the government to maintain the indirect system.
“The new election rules will enable one person, one vote nationwide,” government spokesperson Farhan Jimale said in a statement. “This will allow citizens to vote and elect for the first time in 55 years. It is a historic day,” he added.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected by lawmakers in May 2022 for a five-year term, announced the policy last year. The implementation of this policy faces significant logistical and security challenges due to limited infrastructure and the continued control of large areas by the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab.
