# National Election Dates Announced (2026)

URL: https://allhistories.com/somalia/timeline/2026-national-election-dates-announced
Location: Mogadishu, Banadir, Somalia
Themes: main-event

After the March 2026 constitutional change extended the federal mandates by a year, the government insisted that the next national elections would be held by universal suffrage, the first since 1969, building on the December 2025 local elections in Mogadishu. Opposition groups demanded elections but rejected the government's one-person-one-vote model and timetable, and repeated talks produced no agreement. On 15 October 2026 the National Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (NIEBC) announced that elections for both houses of parliament would be held on 15 April 2027 and the presidential election on 15 May 2027, on a one-person-one-vote basis. Registration of political organisations and voters was to reopen from 1 to 22 November 2026, with campaigning starting on 27 February 2027. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said no election other than one person, one vote would take place. Opposition coalitions, including the Somali Future Council, continued to reject the process and submitted their own electoral proposals to international partners. Whether the planned elections can be held across a country still contested by al-Shabaab, Puntland, Jubaland and Somaliland remained uncertain at the end of October 2026. At this point in the timeline (15 October 2026), the President of Somalia was Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (23 May 2022 – present); the President of Somaliland was Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi 'Irro' (12 December 2024 – present). Government: the Prime Minister of Somalia was Hamza Abdi Barre (25 June 2022 – present).

## Why it matters
The timetable set the stage for Somalia's first planned direct national elections in nearly six decades.

Ruler at the Time: [Hassan Sheikh Mohamud (2022–present)](https://allhistories.com/somalia/rulers/hassan-sheikh-mohamud-2022)

President of Somaliland: Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi 'Irro' (Waddani)
Prime Minister of Somalia: Hamza Abdi Barre (Union for Peace and Development Party)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Elections in Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Somalia)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Somalia elections](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Somalia+elections)
- [Dawan Africa — Somalia sets presidential vote for 15 May 2027](https://www.dawan.africa/news/somalia-sets-presidential-vote-for-15-may-2027)
- [Hiiraan Online — Somalia announces parliamentary and presidential elections for 2027](https://www.hiiraan.com/news4/2026/Oct/206532/somalia_announces_parliamentary_and_presidential_elections_for_2027.aspx)
- [Wikipedia — The Federal Era And Al-Shabaab (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Government_of_Somalia)