MOGADISHU, Somalia — Residents of Somalia’s capital voted Thursday in municipal elections billed as a key step toward restoring direct democracy nationwide for the first time in more than half a century.
The Mogadishu vote, held in a city of roughly 3 million where security has improved despite persistent attacks by al-Qaida-aligned al-Shabab, is widely seen as a test run for national-level direct elections. Somalia last held direct polls in 1969, months before military ruler Mohamed Siad Barre seized power in a coup. With the exception of ballots in the semi-autonomous Puntland State region and the breakaway North Western State of Somalia territory, the country’s leaders have since been chosen indirectly.
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That system, formalized in 2004 amid civil war and an Islamist insurgency, channels political competition through clans: representatives select members of parliament, who then elect the president. The president has also appointed Mogadishu’s mayor. Thursday’s vote breaks that chain in the capital by empowering district councils whose members will pick the next mayor.
Election officials said 1,605 candidates are competing for 390 district council seats across the city. “It shows Somalia is standing on its feet and moving forward,” said Abdishakur Abib Hayir of the National Electoral Commission. “After the local election, elections can and will take place in the entire country.”
Somalia revived universal suffrage in a 2024 law intended to guide federal elections expected in 2026. In August, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud reached a deal with some opposition leaders stipulating that while lawmakers would be directly elected in 2026, parliament — not the public — would still choose the president.
Opposition parties argue the rapid rollout of a new voting system could tilt the field in Mohamud’s favor and warn that security conditions remain too fragile for large-scale balloting. Al-Shabab retains influence across swaths of the countryside and periodically strikes major urban centers, including the capital.
Even so, the capital’s preparations have unfolded over months, including biometric voter registration that drew long lines at sites such as Mogadishu’s Hamarweyne district in April. The local contests also mark a break from the long-standing practice of clan elders handpicking leaders, a change advocates say will strengthen accountability at the neighborhood level.
How smoothly the day proceeds — from polling and vote-counting to the formation of district councils — will shape the credibility of Somalia’s broader electoral transition. A successful municipal exercise could bolster public confidence, sharpen party organizing and give authorities practical experience running direct polls after decades of indirect power brokerage.
But the path to nationwide suffrage remains steep. Beyond security threats, authorities must manage logistical hurdles across a vast, often remote landscape; build consensus among rival power centers; and ensure funds, training and infrastructure are in place for credible, inclusive voting. Transparency over results and dispute resolution in Mogadishu will offer an early indication of how the system might scale.
For many in the capital, the significance is immediate. District-level representation can influence services, local security initiatives and basic urban governance in a fast-growing, crowded city. If the process holds, Mogadishu’s new councils will choose a mayor with a fresh, direct mandate — a symbolic and practical departure from the center’s top-down appointment powers.
Somalia’s leaders now must balance momentum with caution. The coming months will test whether the capital’s experiment can anchor a phased, credible return to direct elections — and whether an energized electorate will see its hopes translate into tangible change beyond Mogadishu’s boundaries.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
