Africa

Somali political leaders agree framework for reintroduction of universal suffrage

Somali political leaders agree framework for reintroduction of universal suffrage

They set the local elections for June 2025 and the parliamentary elections for September of that same year

Oct. 31 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Somalia’s political leaders have reached an agreement on a framework that will lead to the introduction of direct suffrage in the country and have set the date for municipal elections in June 2025, followed by parliamentary elections in November of that same year, after several weeks of contacts led by the president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

The talks, in which the Somali Prime Minister, Hamza Abdi Barre, and the leaders of the regions of Somalia participated, led to the withdrawal of the president of Jubaland, Ahmed Mohamed Islam, from the National Consultative Council due to his rejection of the proposal , which has gone ahead without his signature.

Thus, the Presidency has published a statement through its website stating that “the leaders agreed to the introduction of national elections in which citizens vote for their leaders, starting with the local, regional and municipal elections in June 2025.” .

“The election of parliamentarians and leaders of the federal states will take place in September 2025,” he added, before insisting that the elections will be based on a “multiparty” system in which representatives are “elected directly by the Somali people.

In this sense, the organization “reaffirms that compliance with prior agreements on the electoral process is essential to allow the Somali people to participate in fair and transparent elections”, while defending the importance of creating an electoral commission and “sending the necessary legislative proposals before the federal Parliament”.

The new dates for the elections mean a postponement of the local elections, which should have already been held in June, and the legislative elections, originally scheduled for November.

The agreement comes after the Somali Parliament unanimously approved a bill in March modifying the electoral system and reintroducing universal suffrage in the country, where elections are not held with the ‘one person, one vote’ system. since 1969, when Siad Barre seized power after a coup d’état.

However, the refusal by the semi-autonomous regions of Jubaland and Puntland to sign this agreement, which they oppose, points to the difficulties that the authorities could face when implementing this new voting system.

Currently, the country has an indirect system in which clans and regional parliaments elect their representatives to the federal Parliament, which, in turn, is responsible for electing the president. Sheikh Mohamud was elected in May 2022 with this system, which he promised to reform to introduce universal suffrage.

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