Somali parliament approves constitution change to extend president's term, delay election

Somalia's parliament voted to change its constitution and extend the term in office for lawmakers ​and the president, the parliament's ‌speaker said, pushing back planned elections by a year.

Somalia has endured conflict and clan battles with no strong central government since ​the fall of autocratic ruler Mohamed Siad Barre ​in 1991.

While an African Union peacekeeping mission has ⁠pushed back the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group, ​it still controls vast areas of the countryside and ​has the ability to conduct regular strikes on major population centres.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had reached a deal last August with some ​opposition leaders stipulating that, while lawmakers would be ​directly elected in 2026, the president would still be chosen by ‌parliament. ⁠A 2024 law restored universal suffrage ahead of the vote.

On Wednesday, 222 lawmakers from the parliament and senate out of a total of 329 voted by acclamation ​to change the ​law, extending ⁠their term and that of the president to five years, from four years previously.

"Today ​is a historic day for it is ​the ⁠official completion of the constitution which had dragged for a long period," the president told a press conference on ⁠Wednesday.

Opposition ​party leaders, including former presidents and ​former prime ministers, rejected the amendment and called for elections in ​May as planned.