President Mohamud Says Somalia Must Move To One-Person, One-Vote Elections

GOOBJOOG NEWS | GAALKACYO: Federal Government of Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has renewed his call for Somalia to move from its long-running indirect electoral system to one-person, one-vote elections, describing direct voting as the next step in the country’s political development.

Speaking in Gaalkacyo, the president said Somalia had spent nearly two decades operating different forms of indirect elections, with successive reforms gradually widening public participation.

He said the country had moved from a system in which traditional elders played a central role in selecting lawmakers to arrangements involving clan representatives and, later, larger groups of voters in urban areas.

President Mohamud described those changes as stages in a gradual effort to bring Somalia closer to a system in which citizens themselves directly choose their representatives.

“The next step is one-person, one-vote,” the president said, arguing that political efforts should now focus on making direct elections a reality.

The push comes as Somalia approaches another politically sensitive electoral period, with disagreements continuing between the federal government, federal member states and opposition figures over how the next elections should be conducted.

The federal government has presented direct voting as a central part of its efforts to strengthen democratic participation and move Somalia away from the indirect system that has shaped national elections for years.

Critics and some political groups, however, have raised concerns over the timing, implementation process and the need for a broader political agreement before the system is introduced.

The dispute reflects a wider question facing Somalia: how to expand popular participation while ensuring that electoral arrangements are accepted by the country’s federal and political stakeholders.

Somalia’s recent electoral history has been marked by incremental changes rather than a single transition. Traditional elders were initially central to the selection of parliamentarians, while subsequent systems expanded participation through designated representatives and larger electoral colleges.

President Mohamud’s remarks in Gaalkacyo suggest the federal government views those stages as a progression towards direct voting rather than an alternative to it.

The president has made electoral reform a major part of his government’s political agenda, while the debate over how and when to implement one-person, one-vote elections remains one of the most consequential political issues in Somalia.