Elections in Mogadishu – How Are They Relevant?

Fatima Abdi* has been working in Mogadishu for the last three years, one of many returnees from the European diaspora. She works in the health sector through a local university and is highly qualified. She doesn’t consider herself very interested in politics and is not aligned with any particular party or group.

When asked about her experience of the election process, she pointed out that the subject was an active part of conversations four to five months ago, when the government ‘started to get more serious about registration’. She explained that there were advertising boards put up all over the city to encourage people to vote. There was a gentle level of coercion around this process, with mobile teams ‘making’ people register and government officials not allowing people to pass through the many checkpoints around the city unless they could provide proof they had registered. In these cases, it was not always sufficient to say that you had left the registration form at home, according to Fatima. Evidence needed to be provided. However, she did emphasise that this was not done at gunpoint. Other sources at the time suggest the registration process was a success.

Fatima said that she did decide to register. The process was very quick, and her fingerprints were taken. However, she pointed out that little information was provided about the purpose of registration or in fact about anything to do with the reason to vote in the first place. She said that she would not have registered if she was not pushed to because there was no other information provided, not only to help decide whether or not to vote, but who to vote for. She also expressed little faith in the integrity of the process from the outset. That said, she was impressed by the number of staff mobilised for the registration process itself.

Following the drive for registration, things went quiet for some weeks and then, less than a week before election day she received a phone call saying her voter card was ready and could be picked up. During the week of the election, tensions rose in anticipation of potential unrest in the city. Schools were closed in advance and people prepared to stay at home.

Fatima was most disappointed by the lack of information provided at every stage. She did acknowledge that there were some interviews with candidates on social media and pictures of candidates on the local three-wheeler ‘bajajs’, but these did not provide sufficient information about why one should vote for one person or party rather than another.

Ultimately Fatima did not vote. In her circle of family and friends, she said her experience was very similar to theirs – no one she knew actually voted.

To the surprise of many, there was very little unrest on the day, and life returned to normal quickly. Reflecting on the calm on the day of voting, she wondered whether this was because few people actually came out to vote. For Fatima and her circle, they never felt invested in the process or the outcome, and there was far more pressure put into the registration process than in the selection process.

Other Mogadishu observers we spoke with echoed a similar sentiment. Some raised questions about how the registration data is being used (or misused) to produce politically convenient results.

Meanwhile, the government claims the December 2025 election represents a ‘historic milestone’ for Somalia.

*This name has been anonymised.

About the author

Dr Nisar Majid is the research director for the PeaceRep Somalia programme at the Conflict & Civicness Research Group at LSE. He has worked in and on the Horn of Africa and the Somali territories for over 20 years, in various applied and research capacities.