MOGADISHU: Somalia will deploy more than 10,000 security personnel in the capital, Mogadishu, ahead of next week’s local elections — the first direct polls in nearly 60 years — the security minister said on Sunday.
The East African country is struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chaos, battling a bloody insurgency and frequent natural disasters.
In April, the country launched voter registration for the first time in decades, a step toward universal suffrage and an end to the complex clan-based indirect voting system in place since 1969.
In April, the country launched voter registration for the first time in decades, a step toward universal suffrage.
The Dec. 25 polls — which the opposition has boycotted, accusing the federal government of “unilateral election processes” — will see more than 1,600 candidates contest 390 local seats in the southeastern Banadir region.
