Despite Challenges, Somalia Must Hold National Elections in 2021

[Deeq A.]

By mid-2016, Somalia was actively organizing the country’s second national parliamentary and presidential elections to beheld inside the country for the first time since the 1991 civil war. By December 2020, the four-year term for Somalia’s fledging federal institutions are due to expire. Still, prospects of national ‘democratic’ elections later this year seem distant. ‘Democratic’ elections in Somalia is different from conventional elections; rather, Somali elections is based on a hybridelectoral model, combining a clan-based political arrangement with a voting mechanism via ‘clan representatives’ in Federal Parliament.

The controversial ‘4.5 formula’ – essentially allocating national parliamentary seats among four “major” clan-families (4) and “minority” clans (.5) – has been the basis for political representation in the fragile nation since 2000. The formula’s flawed structure has the been the epicenter of intense debate for years; however, the 4.5 system, as a model of political representation, has allocated Somali ‘clans’ seats in parliament, and has paved the way for successive elections and transfer of power after national elections in 2004, 2009, 2012 and most recently, in 2016/2017.

Despite these limitations, political representation and electoral model in Somalia aims to ensure wide representation and participation, to garner broad-based domestic support and ensure legitimacy in election outcomes.

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