By Abdullahi Salad - Reporter
MOGADISHU, 15 October 2026 Somalia's National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission today officially announced that the country's presidential election will be held on 15 May 2027.
The commission said elections for both houses of parliament will take place on 15 April 2027. The elections will be conducted on a one-person-one-vote basis.
The commission also released the electoral timetable, which includes the reopening of registration for political organisations and voters from 1 to 22 November 2026, a 22 November deadline for submitting parliamentary candidate lists, and the start of election campaigning on 27 February 2027.
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The announcement comes as the opposition rejects the electoral process, and several rounds of talks between the government and the opposition have failed to produce any agreement on the elections.
Since May, when President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's term would have ended but was extended by one year under constitutional changes, opposition groups have been demanding elections while rejecting the one-person-one-vote model proposed by the government.The President, for his part, has previously said that no election other than one person, one vote will take place in the country.
During the most recent talks, the Somali Future Council, Nabad iyo Nolol and the National Unity Council all submitted to the international community, including the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations, an electoral model they described as one person, one vote, agreeing that there would be no return to indirect elections.