Somalia says it will hold elections in 2027

Critics say unilateral decision to call polls is a recipe for more conflict.

Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud casts his ballot during local council elections in Mogadishu on December 25, 2025 [File: Hassan Ali Elmi/AFP]

Somalia’s election commission has announced that parliamentary and presidential elections will be held in the country next year.

Abdikarim Ahmed Hassan, chief of the Independent National Elections and Boundaries Commission (INEBC), made the announcement on the state broadcaster on Thursday, saying that elections for members of parliament for both the lower and ‌upper ‌chambers are planned for April 15, 2027, followed by a presidential vote scheduled for May 15.

A statement by the electoral body said the vote to elect a president was in accordance with a rule “which stipulates that the president’s term of office is five years, beginning on the date the president is sworn into office”.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s second term – starting in 2022 – ended earlier this year, but his government declared a “transition period” through a constitutional amendment in May, despite an agreement with the opposition to hold elections.

Opposition parties boycotted that vote to amend the constitution and have rejected the changes since.

Mohamud is pushing to hold party-based elections to replace a system of electing established clan elders, but his attempts have been opposed by critics, who call his move a power grab.

Former President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo called the decision to hold elections a “dangerous threat to Somalia’s statehood and future” in a post on X, and urged an agreement with all factions before a decision can be made on the polls.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, another former president, who was previously a leader of the opposition, warned that a “contested [electoral] process could lead to parallel elections” and even “civil conflict”, according to the AFP.

Meanwhile, the government welcomed the polling date announcements as an “important stage … towards reinforcing the country’s democratic system” and called on all parties to engage with the process, peacefully “in good faith”.

“There’s no political agreement to hold those elections,” analyst Samira Gaid told the AFP news agency.

“All the processes that the government is starting are leading to further fragmentation,” she said, adding that the government was essentially made up of Mogadishu and “two or three allied member states”.

Elections, Gaid said, would lead to “conflict and more confrontation within the remaining federal member states”.

There was also scepticism in the capital Mogadishu, with some residents calling the announcement “one-sided”.

“Announcing an election schedule through a process driven by one side, and rejected by the opposition, is effectively declaring a new conflict,” Omar Said, a resident of the capital, told AFP.

Speaking to Al Jazeera earlier this month , President Mohamud said the country still faced significant security challenges, despite the al-Shabab group having no presence in the major cities, and despite there being little possibility of the group taking control in Somalia.

Al-Shabab is a Somali armed group that emerged from the Islamic Courts Union in the mid-2000s and pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda in 2012. It has fought Somalia’s federal government for years, holds territory in parts of southern and central Somalia, and has carried out deadly attacks, including in Mogadishu and in neighbouring Kenya.

Mohamud said the United States remained Somalia’s strongest partner in the fight against “terrorism”.

He also spoke on Somalia’s relations with neighbouring Ethiopia, describing ties as good, highlighting that Mogadishu does not object to landlocked Addis Ababa gaining access to the sea through a joint agreement to use Somali ports for its economic interests.

In January 2024, Addis Ababa signed a memorandum of understanding with Somaliland on sea access, which Somalia condemned as a violation of its sovereignty. Somalia and Ethiopia later agreed to ease tensions.

批评人士称，单方面决定举行选举只会引发更多冲突。

2025年12月25日，索马里总统哈桑·谢赫·马哈茂德在摩加迪沙参加地方议会选举投票。[图片：哈桑·阿里·埃尔米/法新社]

索马里选举委员会宣布，该国将于明年举行议会和总统选举。

独立国家选举和边界委员会 (INEBC) 主席阿卜迪卡里姆·艾哈迈德·哈桑周四在国家广播公司宣布，计划于 2027 年 4 月 15 日举行下议院和上议院议员选举，随后定于 5 月 15 日举行总统选举。

选举机构发表声明称，此次总统选举投票符合一项规定，“该规定指出，总统任期为五年，从总统宣誓就职之日起算”。

哈桑·谢赫·马哈茂德总统的第二个任期（从 2022 年开始）于今年早些时候结束，但他的政府在 5 月份通过宪法修正案宣布进入“过渡期”，尽管此前已与反对派达成举行选举的协议。

反对党抵制了那次宪法修正案投票，并且此后一直拒绝接受这些修改。

穆罕默德正力推以政党为基础的选举来取代由既有氏族长老选举产生的制度，但他的尝试遭到了批评者的反对，批评者称他的举动是攫取权力。

前总统穆罕默德·阿卜杜拉希·法尔马乔在X网站上发帖称，举行选举的决定“对索马里的国家地位和未来构成危险威胁”，并敦促在就选举做出决定之前与所有派别达成协议。

据法新社报道，另一位前总统、曾是反对派领导人的谢赫·谢里夫·谢赫·艾哈迈德警告说，“有争议的（选举）过程可能导致平行选举”，甚至“内战”。

与此同时，政府对投票日期的宣布表示欢迎，称这是“加强国家民主制度的重要阶段”，并呼吁各方“本着诚意”和平参与这一进程。

分析人士萨米拉·盖德告诉法新社：“目前还没有举行这些选举的政治协议。”

“政府正在启动的所有进程都导致了进一步的分裂，”她说道，并补充说，该政府实际上由摩加迪沙和“两三个盟友成员国”组成。

盖德表示，选举将导致“剩余联邦成员州之间出现冲突和更多对抗”。

首都摩加迪沙也出现了质疑的声音，一些居民称这一声明是“片面的”。

“由一方主导、反对派拒绝接受的选举日程公布程序，实际上是在宣告一场新的冲突，”首都居民奥马尔·赛义德告诉法新社。

本月初，穆罕默德总统在接受半岛电视台采访时表示，尽管青年党在主要城市没有势力，而且该组织控制索马里的可能性很小，但索马里仍然面临着重大的安全挑战。

索马里青年党是一个索马里武装组织，于 2000 年代中期从伊斯兰法院联盟中分离出来，并于 2012 年宣誓效忠基地组织。多年来，该组织一直与索马里联邦政府作战，控制着索马里南部和中部部分地区，并发动了致命袭击，包括在摩加迪沙和邻国肯尼亚的袭击。

穆罕默德表示，美国仍然是索马里打击“恐怖主义”的最强伙伴。

他还谈到了索马里与邻国埃塞俄比亚的关系，称两国关系良好，并强调摩加迪沙不反对内陆国家亚的斯亚贝巴通过一项联合协议获得出海口，利用索马里港口为埃塞俄比亚谋取经济利益。

2024年1月，亚的斯亚贝巴与索马里兰签署了一份关于海上通道的谅解备忘录，索马里谴责该备忘录侵犯了其主权。索马里和埃塞俄比亚随后同意缓和紧张局势。