Thursday May 29, 2025
Somalia’s National Independent Electoral Commission member Abdullahi Salad Yarow speaks during a press briefing in Mogadishu, addressing allegations of coercion in the voter registration process for university students. May 2025.
Mogadishu (HOL) — Somalia’s National Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday dismissed accusations that its agents forced university students in the capital to sign up for the Banadir Regional Council elections.
Opposition leaders Abdirahman Abdishakur of the Wadajir Party and former President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Hizbul Islam alleged that the commission deployed armed teams to campuses to compel students to take voter cards.
Commissioner Abdullahi Salad Yarow, speaking by phone from Dhusamareb, called the claims “baseless.” He said university administrators had asked the commission to install on-site booths because the official registration window—Saturday through Thursday—overlaps with class days, while Friday is a rest day. “No student has been threatened or registered at gunpoint,” he said.
Yarow urged parties to mobilize supporters “peacefully and lawfully” through their federal-member-state liaison offices and warned that incendiary rhetoric could endanger public order.
The Banadir council vote is part of Somalia’s staggered local government elections, intended to deepen representation in the capital after years of centralized rule. Voter-card distribution in Mogadishu began in early May and is scheduled to continue through mid-June.
