By Shire Abdi - Reporter
Somalia, (Dawan Africa) July 30 2026 – Somalia's Deputy Prime Minister Salah Ahmed Jama said on Thursday that the country's transition toward one-person, one-vote elections was becoming increasingly difficult to reverse, as voters cast ballots in Galmudug's local council and parliamentary elections.
Speaking during a visit to polling stations in Gaalkacyo on Thursday, Jama said the direct elections in Galmudug represented another milestone after similar votes in Banadir and South West State, arguing that successive polls had demonstrated growing public support for electoral reforms.
"There were many who believed Somalia was not ready for one-person, one-vote elections," Jama said. "The people of Banadir gave the first answer, the people of South West State gave the second, and today the people of Galmudug are giving perhaps the strongest answer yet."
The deputy prime minister said the federal government had spent the past four years preparing for direct elections through constitutional amendments, new legislation, the establishment of electoral institutions and investment in the resources needed to organise the vote.
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He said the government viewed the polls as the fulfilment of a key campaign pledge by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and part of a broader effort to transfer political decision-making from a limited group of stakeholders to the wider electorate.
More than 270,000 registered voters were eligible to cast ballots in Thursday's elections for 243 local council seats and 89 seats in the Galmudug House of Representatives. The elections are the latest phase of Somalia's effort to expand direct voting after decades in which many political offices were filled through indirect selection processes.
The federal government's push for universal suffrage has been welcomed by supporters as a step toward broader democratic participation, while some opposition politicians and regional leaders have questioned the process and the legal framework governing the electoral reforms.