Somalia - April 2025

On 13 April, Somalia launched a national voter registration campaign in Mogadishu, marking a key step toward the country’s first one-person, one-vote elections since 1967. The campaign is aimed at preparing for local elections scheduled for late June 2025 and represents a shift away from the country’s long-standing clan-based voting system. In 2023, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged to transition Somalia to universal suffrage. Since then, the cabinet has endorsed legislation to support direct presidential elections by 2026. However, opposition leaders, including former presidents Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, have rejected the process as unilateral and suggested they may organise a parallel vote.

Sources: Hiiran, The East African, News Central, Africa News, Reuters, International IDEA