This archive report was first published on 28 December 2019.
On December 28, 2019, Somalia's Lower House of Parliament made history by approving a new election law, paving the way for universal suffrage elections in the country next year.
The legislation, which was presented by a special review parliamentary committee, was voted on by 171 lawmakers, with 5 rejecting it and 2 abstaining.
According to the United Nations, Somalia last held one-person, one-vote elections in March 1969, when the government was overthrown in a bloodless military coup.
The draft law still needs to be passed by the senate (upper house) and signed by President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo to become a law.
