Mogadishu Swears In 390 Councillors After Landmark One-Person, One-Vote Election

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: A total of 390 local council members elected through a one-person, one-vote system were sworn in on Thursday in Mogadishu, marking a significant step in Somalia’s gradual shift toward direct elections.

The councillors emerged from a competitive race involving 1,600 candidates drawn from 20 political organizations across 16 districts in the Banaadir region. More than 500,000 voters took part in the polls, one of the largest direct voting exercises in the capital in recent years.

The swearing-in ceremony was administered by the Chairman of the Banaadir Regional Court, Salah Ali Mahmoud, and attended by senior government officials, including the Banaadir Regional Administration leadership, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, and the Chairperson of the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission. Speakers at the event congratulated the councillors and urged them to prioritize public service and accountability.

Under Somalia’s newly approved constitution, the local council members will now proceed to elect district commissioners, a move aimed at strengthening decentralized governance and local accountability structures.

The vote follows a key legal milestone last month when the Supreme Court of Somalia approved the conduct of the one-person, one-vote election in Banaadir, effectively clearing the way for the exercise to proceed amid political and legal debates over the country’s electoral model. The ruling was widely seen as reinforcing the federal government’s push to transition away from indirect elections toward a more representative system.

Officials say the Banaadir vote is part of a broader national roadmap to expand direct elections across federal member states. Speaking at the ceremony, the head of the electoral commission, Abdikarim Ahmed Hassan, announced that similar elections are scheduled to take place later this month in South West State, followed by Galmudug and Hirshabelle.

The expansion of direct voting is expected to test both institutional capacity and political consensus, as Somalia continues its long and complex transition toward universal suffrage.