Somalia intends to implement direct universal suffrage in 2019

MOGADISHU: Following a commitment by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in March to abolish a convoluted indirect system in existence since 1969, Somalia’s administration and federal member states said on Sunday that direct universal suffrage will be implemented with local elections scheduled for June 2024.

After reaching an agreement with state authorities, the administration declared: “The fundamental principles should be that the election of the Federal Somali Republic must be one that gives the public the opportunity to cast their votes democratically in a one-person, one-vote system.”