Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Defends One-Person, One-Vote Elections, Rejects Indirect Voting

MOGADISHU — Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has launched a forceful defense of one-person, one-vote elections, rejecting calls for a return to indirect voting and arguing that the country has already moved past the old approach.

Speaking to the nation, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said past understandings have already laid out the electoral roadmap, including how committees should be formed and what rules should govern the process. He added that some politicians have chosen to step away from commitments they signed.

“If you hear calls for an indirect election, they come from people trying to impose their personal interests. What stands in the way is the public interest,” the president said.

He pointed to more than 20 signed agreements covering direct elections, the wider electoral framework, and committee arrangements, arguing that shifting back to indirect voting is not a realistic option.

The president also took aim at leaders who, in his view, favor arrangements built around individuals rather than functioning institutions and established legal rules. He said Somalia’s direction cannot be set by “the will of one person or a small group.”

Hassan Sheikh Mohamud further stated that lawmakers should reflect the people and cannot be picked according to the preferences of a limited number of politicians, stressing that citizens must be allowed to vote directly. “Indirect elections are a thing of the past; they are finished,” he said, urging Somalis to place their confidence in the country’s institutions and government.

He also said the one-person, one-vote elections have been financed entirely from domestic sources, adding that “not a single foreign shilling” has been used.

Wrapping up his address, the president called on Somalis to keep moving forward, warning that the country cannot remain stuck at the level it reached after the fall of the central government in 1991.

AXADLETM