More than 56 years since Somali nationals last cast their vote in a one-person, one-vote election, the country's National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission has embarked on a massive process of registering voters.
Few in the country have ever voted in their lives, including the President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was 15 years old in 1969 when Somalia last held universal suffrage elections.
The enthusiasm to participate in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for May 2026 has led to long queues in Mogadishu, with citizens defying the terror group Al Shabaab to turn up in large numbers and register as voters.
Unlike in the past, when clan elders and delegates who selected MPs would conceal their identities by hiding or covering their faces for fear of Al-Shabaab, citizens are now turning up in huge numbers and boldly stepping forward to be listed in the voter register for local council and national elections to choose MPs, senators, and the president.
