The Senate Votes Unanimously To Approve Somalia’s Election Bill

Somalia’s Upper House has today approved the election law, a significant step towards universal suffrage elections this year.

During a session on Saturday, 27 senators voted in favor of the legislation, 6 rejected and no abstained.

The voting came after the bill was presented by a special review parliamentary committee.

The draft law will become a law if signed by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo.

Somalia, with the help of partners, is making urgent preparations for universal suffrage elections, which will be the first of its kind after more than two decades since the outbreak of the civil war that followed the collapse of the Somali government in 1992.

The partners have held a series of meetings in recent weeks with key stakeholders in the electoral process including with the National Independent Electoral Commission (NIEC) on the electoral law and security for the elections.

According to the UN, Somalia last held one-person, one-vote elections in March 1969 when the government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup.