The long-delayed presidential election in Somalia will finally be held on October 10, the country’s political leaders agreed on Tuesday after months of stalemate that sometimes turned violent.
The Prime Minister’s Office, Mohamed Hussein Roble, presented the timetable for indirect parliamentary and presidential elections in a statement on Twitter, saying that stakeholders had agreed on a roadmap for voting after two days of talks in the capital Mogadishu.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed and the leaders of Somalia’s five states had not been able to agree on the terms of the vote before his term expired in February, triggering an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
The political dead end exploded in violence in April when negotiations collapsed and the lower house of parliament extended the president’s term by two years, sparking gun battles in the streets of Mogadishu.
Under pressure, the president, commonly known as Farmajo, reversed the mandate extension and ordered his prime minister to reconvene with leaders of Somalia’s five states to chart a new roadmap ahead of the election.
In May, the warring leaders announced plans to begin the multi-stage electoral process within 60 days, easing political tensions.
The timetable announced on Tuesday plans elections for the upper house on July 25 and the lower house between August 10 and September 10.
Both houses are convened and a vote for the president will be held on October 10.
Somalia has not had a direct election with one person, one vote since 1969.
Repeated efforts to organize such a vote have been due to security concerns or a lack of political will.
The forthcoming election, like others before it, follows a complex indirect model.
Special delegates, selected by the country’s countless clan elders, elect members of parliament in the lower house, while senators are nominated by state presidents and then approved by local lawmakers.
This election would go further in terms of inclusion, with twice as many constituencies and almost twice as many delegates voting as in the last 2017 election.
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