Somalia will deploy over 10,000 security personnel in Mogadishu ahead of next week’s historic local elections, the first direct polls in nearly six decades. The East African nation is emerging from decades of conflict, facing an insurgency, widespread chaos, and frequent natural disasters.
Voter registration began in April for the first time in decades, signalling a move toward universal suffrage and an end to clan-based voting. The December 25 polls, boycotted by the opposition for alleged “unilateral election processes,” will feature more than 1,600 candidates for 390 local seats. Nearly 400,000 citizens have registered to vote in the southeastern Banadir region, the country’s electoral commission reported on Sunday.
“We have managed to secure the city,” Security Minister Abdullahi Sheikh Ismail said, stressing tight arrangements for election day safety.
Electoral Commission Chairman Abdikarin Ahmed Hassan said all movement would be restricted, with voters transported to polling stations by bus. “The whole country will be shut down,” Hassan added, calling the elections a historic moment for Somalis after nearly sixty years.
Direct voting was abolished after Siad Barre seized power in 1969, with clan-based representation dominating politics after his fall in 1991. Thursday’s elections, using a one-person, one-vote system, were postponed three times this year due to logistical and security challenges.
Somalia plans to hold its next presidential election in 2026, as President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s current term approaches its end.