Finding Common Ground: Towards a Compromise Electoral Framework for Somalia’s Future Federal Elections - Somali Public Agenda

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Finding Common Ground: Towards a Compromise Electoral Framework for Somalia’s Future Federal Elections

Although the four electoral proposals differ in their institutional design, they all support direct elections and retain the 4.5 clan power-sharing formula, providing a strong foundation for political compromise.

The principal areas of disagreement concern the electoral system, constituency design, election management, voter registration, and the method of electing the Upper House. Important implementation issues—including women’s political representation, Northeastern State’s parliamentary representation, and the legal basis of the elections—also remain unresolved.

This Governance Brief argues that these differences are not irreconcilable. It proposes a compromise electoral framework that combines the most practical elements of the four proposals, including a First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system, geographically allocated clan constituencies, an independent federal election management body, party-affiliated and independent candidates, paper-based same-day voter registration and voting, a revised process for electing the Upper House, and practical measures to safeguard women’s political representation.

Finding Common Ground: Towards a Compromise Electoral Framework for Somalia’s Future Federal Elections

SPA_Governance_Briefs_48_2026_ENGLISH

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Somali Public Agenda (SPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan, and independent public policy and administration research and action organization based in Mogadishu. It aims to advance understanding and improvement of public policy and services in Somalia through evidence-based research and analysis, dialogue, policy and service design, and training.

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