Somalia adopted a new Constitution on Wednesday that sets the presidential term at five years and introduces the election of members of parliament by universal suffrage, measures that have sparked strong opposition in this fractured and unstable country.
It has not been specified whether the current head of state, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected in 2022 for a four-year term, will benefit from this measure, which was adopted by both chambers of parliament, while presidential and legislative elections are scheduled for June.
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre described the new Constitution as a "historic victory.”
President Mohamud praised the "establishment of a governance system based on a solid legal foundation,” which allows the Somali people to guide the country’s political direction.
Until now, Somali deputies and senators were appointed through an indirect and clan-based system, in which recognized clan leaders appointed delegates who in turn selected members of parliament.
The president was then elected by the National Assembly and the Senate, rather than by the population — a system that the new Constitution still maintains.
The current head of state, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who previously served a four-year term from 2012 to 2016 — eventually extended until 2017 due to political instability — had advocated for the adoption of the new Constitution.
Even before its adoption, questions had already been raised about Somalia’s ability to organize elections in June.
The country faces a major insurgency led by Al-Shabaab, an armed group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, which has been fighting the federal government for two decades and controls large parts of the territory.
The Somali state maintains full authority over the capital, Mogadishu, where the first local election in more than 60 years was held in late December. However, organizing elections in many other parts of the country in the coming months appears highly uncertain, according to many analysts.
Somalia is also deeply divided among its constituent states: the leaders of Jubaland (south) and Puntland (northeast)strongly oppose the Somali president’s efforts to centralize power.
An opposition alliance, including the leaders of these two regions, failed to agree on the proposed Constitution or on the electoral timetable during a meeting last month. Their representatives boycotted the vote on the new Constitution.
Somalia also claims authority over Somaliland, which unilaterally declared independence in 1991 after a bloody civil war.
At the end of 2025, Israel became the first country to recognize the independence of this self-proclaimed republic since its secession from Somalia, provoking anger in Mogadishu.