James Swann, the United Nations Special Representative for Somalia and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Somalia, said at the Security Council’s online briefing on the situation in Somalia on November 23 local time that Somali federal and regional leaders reached a “widespread political consensus” on the voting method for the election in September, ending Somalia. Mali’s two-year deadlock must be “maintained and effectively deepened”.
According to the provisional federal constitution of Somalia, the members of the parliament must be directly elected through universal suffrage. The Constitution also stipulates that parliamentary elections must be held every four years, which means that the elections will be held before the end of November this year.
However, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Somalia’s elections scheduled for November this year have been postponed. Somali federal and regional leaders had previously proposed to move from indirect voting (where clan leaders represent voters) to a one-person, one-vote system, but the parties reached a consensus in mid-September and agreed to continue the election by indirect voting.
