Somalia on Tuesday launched voter registration in the capital Mogadishu for the first time in over 50 years, a step towards universal suffrage ahead of presidential elections scheduled for 2026 in the volatile nation.The east African country is struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chaos, battling a bloody Islamist insurgency and frequent natural disasters.President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud pledged last year to end the complex clan-based indirect voting system that had been in place since 1969, when the dictator Siad Barre seized power.An AFP correspondent observed dozens of people queuing to register in the Mogadishu district of Shangani, most of whom had never been in an electoral registration office before.”I’m still not sure about this and how it will work, but I’m very happy to be here today to register,” said 25-year-old Ali Mohammed.While he welcomed the opportunity to vote, he voiced the scepticism of many, wondering “if this works”.Abdirahman Dhegey, 35, also waiting in line to register said: “We have never elected anybody before so if this registration works and we cast our vote to elect, it will be very good for the people.”- ‘An important day’ -Somalia is due to hold local elections in June, using the one-person one-vote model, ahead of presidential polls that have been scheduled for 2026.The election plan was first unveiled in 2023 but initially ran into problems, with leading Somali politicians saying it lacked the full support of all federal states, particularly the semi-autonomous state of Puntland. The cabinet eventually approved it last year.Electoral Commission chairman Abdikarin Ahmed Hassan called the registration an “important and big day for the Somali people”, and said the process would be rolled out across the country.The country’s Information Minister Daud Aweis also confirmed that registration had begun.Since Barre’s fall in 1991, Somalia’s political system has revolved around a clan-based structure.In 2023, the semi-autonomous state of Puntland held local polls by direct ballot, but dropped plans to use the system again for local and regional leadership elections early last year.Direct voting has also been held in neighbouring Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991 but has never been recognised internationally.In Mogadishu, mother-of-three Shamsa Yusuf, registering for the first time, said she hoped that the process would bring stability.”I find this opportunity very important for my future and the future of my children,” the 38-year-old said.
