Mogadishu (Somalia Today) – Somalia’s federal government said on Sunday that the country had entered a new phase of “inclusive and transparent” elections, renewing its pledge to move towards direct voting despite widening political tensions over the planned 2026 polls.
In a statement, the Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs and Reconciliation said the shift away from Somalia’s long-running indirect electoral system was now underway.
The ministry described direct elections as “a constitutional right of every citizen” and said the process would be “free and fair” and based on democratic principles.
It added that institutions responsible for managing the vote would soon start carrying out their duties under national law.
The announcement comes at a sensitive time for Somalia, where a dispute over constitutional changes and election planning has heightened tensions between the federal government and several regional states.
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has made electoral reform one of the central projects of his administration, saying Somalia must move beyond the indirect model under which clan elders and delegates help choose lawmakers, who then elect the president.
Supporters of reform say the system has long limited public participation and entrenched elite bargaining, while critics warn that a rapid transition could deepen instability in a country still grappling with insecurity and disputes between Mogadishu and the federal member states.
Constitutional dispute
Earlier this month, parliament approved controversial constitutional amendments that opposition figures say could extend the mandates of federal institutions and delay the 2026 national elections.
The exact legal effect of the March 5 changes remains disputed, but the political fallout has been swift.
In January, lawmakers clashed in parliament when the proposed amendments were first introduced, forcing a suspension of the session and reviving memories of Somalia’s 2021 political crisis, when a dispute over term extensions brought the country close to wider unrest.
The latest changes have become the focus of a broader debate over who gets to define the electoral framework and how far Mogadishu can move ahead without broader political agreement.
The federal government has presented the reforms as part of a long-term effort to complete Somalia’s transition from a provisional political order to a more stable constitutional system.
Opposition figures, however, say changes of such importance should be agreed through broader consultation and warn that unilateral moves risk undermining trust in the process.
Regional tensions
The dispute has also sharpened friction between Mogadishu and regional administrations.
Days after the amendments were passed, the South West state said it would suspend cooperation with the federal government, accusing the centre of overreach.
Puntland has refused to recognise the federal government since March 2024 over earlier constitutional disputes, while Jubaland has remained at odds with Mogadishu following a row over regional elections in late 2024.
The growing rift has cast fresh doubt on whether Somalia can organise a nationwide one-person, one-vote system under current political conditions.
Relations between the centre and federal member states have long been one of the most difficult questions in Somalia’s post-conflict political settlement, with repeated disputes over powers, resources, and constitutional authority.
Those tensions now intersect directly with the electoral question, making the debate over voting rules inseparable from the broader struggle over the shape of the Somali state.
Push for direct voting
If implemented, the reforms would mark a major shift for Somalia, which has not held a direct national election in decades and has instead relied on an indirect formula rooted in clan-based power sharing.
For years, Somali politics has been structured around the so-called 4.5 system, under which representation is divided among the four main clan families and a coalition of minority groups.
Under that arrangement, clan elders and other traditional actors help select delegates, who choose members of parliament, who then elect the president.
Mohamud himself returned to office in 2022 through that indirect process.
In August 2024, Somalia’s cabinet approved a bill aimed at restoring universal suffrage, presenting it as a historic step towards direct elections.
But the roadmap has shifted more than once.
While earlier constitutional proposals called for direct presidential voting, a political agreement reached in August 2025 with some opposition figures produced a different model under which lawmakers would be elected by popular vote, while parliament would still choose the president.
That compromise marked a step away from the clan-based system, but its implementation remained uncertain because some major opposition figures rejected the process.
Even so, the federal government has continued taking practical steps on the ground.
In April 2025, authorities launched voter registration in Mogadishu, describing it as the first such exercise in the capital in decades.
The process moved to the ballot box in December 2025, when Mogadishu held municipal elections that officials presented as an early test of direct voting.
Around 1,605 candidates contested 390 district council seats in the vote, which took place under tight security.
Security challenge
The municipal elections showed both the potential and the limits of the government’s reform drive.
Authorities deployed roughly 10,000 security personnel and imposed sweeping restrictions, including road closures and the temporary shutdown of key facilities, to prevent attacks and secure polling stations.
The security challenge remains one of the biggest obstacles to wider elections.
Al-Shabaab still controls parts of rural Somalia and continues to pose a threat in major urban centres, raising questions over how Somalia could organise a broader national vote across the country.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council welcomed the Mogadishu municipal elections earlier this year as an important step, but it also warned that tensions between the federal government and regional states such as Puntland and Jubaland were complicating both political progress and the fight against the Islamist insurgency.
Sunday’s statement from the interior ministry reaffirmed the government’s commitment to democracy, public participation, and an election system based on law.
But it gave no detailed timetable for the next phase of the process and did not say how the government planned to address opposition objections or repair relations with the regional states challenging Mogadishu’s authority.
Supporters are likely to see the declaration as evidence that Somalia is moving towards a broader electoral system after decades of indirect voting.
Critics may see it as another step in a transition that remains politically contested and operationally unclear.
With tensions still rising between Mogadishu and several regional states, Somalia’s push towards direct elections now depends not only on legal changes and administrative planning, but also on whether its leaders can build enough political consensus to carry the process forward.
