Somalia’s electoral commission announced on Thursday that the country will hold elections for both chambers of parliament on April 15, 2027, followed by a presidential election on May 15, 2027. Commission chairperson Abdikarim Ahmed Hassan made the announcement on the state broadcaster, saying the presidential date rests on a constitutional provision setting a five year presidential term from inauguration.
The timetable is contested at its root. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s term was due to end in May this year, but in March lawmakers enacted constitutional changes that potentially extend his term by a year, a move the opposition criticised and boycotted. Mohamud’s government declared a transition period in May and is pushing to replace the indirect system, in which clan elders and delegates choose lawmakers, with direct one person one vote elections. Regional leaders and opposition parties have rejected both the amendments and, now, the timetable, saying it was produced without an inclusive political settlement. The federal government has welcomed the dates and urged political dialogue.
Security is the second obstacle. Al Shabaab, allied to al Qaeda, still controls vast areas of the countryside despite offensives backed by an African Union mission, and can strike major population centres, which complicates organising a nationwide vote.
Status: election dates announced by the electoral commission; opposition rejection means the political agreement needed to run the vote on those terms does not yet exist.