Somali capital holds first direct elections in 57 years
MOGADISHU — Voters in Somalia’s capital cast ballots Thursday in municipal elections billed as a pivotal step toward the country’s first nationwide direct vote since 1969, underscoring a gradual shift away from two decades of indirect power-sharing.
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The East African nation last held direct elections shortly before Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in a 1969 coup. Following Barre’s ouster in 1991 and years of civil war, Somalia adopted an indirect electoral system in 2004 to manage political competition amid an Islamist insurgency and fractured state institutions.
Mogadishu, a city of roughly three million people, is the first to test a direct vote under this new phase of reform. More than 1,600 candidates are contesting 390 local council seats, with nearly 400,000 registered voters called to participate, according to the Somali Electoral Commission.
Security remains the defining backdrop. While conditions in the capital have improved, the country continues to face attacks by armed groups. Al-Shabab, the al-Qaida-linked faction that has waged a long insurgency against the federal government, carries out raids, bombings and targeted assassinations intended to destabilize Somali authorities and regional security structures.
In August, the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia (AUSSOM) said more than 50 al-Shabab militants were killed in joint operations with Somali forces in Bariire, about 73 kilometers southwest of Mogadishu. The mission’s transition and the handover of security responsibilities to Somali forces have put additional attention on the state’s ability to safeguard political milestones such as Thursday’s vote.
Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama framed the municipal elections as a restoration of basic civic rights. “Direct elections are a constitutional right of every Somali citizen,” he said on X, adding: “This morning I joined the hundreds of thousands of people living in the capital who cast their votes freely and fairly … we have regained our constitutional rights after more than half a century.”
Abdishakur Abib Hayir, a member of the National Electoral Commission, said the Mogadishu vote signaled momentum toward broader polls. “After the local election, elections can and will take place in the entire country,” he told Reuters.
The municipal contests will determine the makeup of local councils that influence service delivery and city governance, but their significance extends nationally. If the capital’s elections conclude peacefully and are viewed as credible, Somali officials and international partners are likely to press for similar ballots elsewhere as the country works toward direct parliamentary and presidential polls for the first time in more than 50 years.
Thursday’s vote comes amid continued efforts to strengthen federal and local institutions following decades of conflict. For many residents, simply marking a ballot in a city long synonymous with insecurity carried symbolic weight, even as the timetable for expanding direct elections nationwide remains challenging and dependent on security, funding and political consensus.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
