Somalia says it will revert to direct vote for officials starting next year

FILE PHOTO: Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud participates in a Peace, Security and Governance Forum during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit 2022 in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool

MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia will start electing its president and other officials by direct vote next year, the government announced on Sunday, ending a system of indirect voting in the Horn of Africa country that has endured three decades of conflict and clan battles.

Amid widespread insecurity caused by an Islamist insurgency and weak state structures, in recent years lawmakers voted for the president, while clan heads and elders elected lawmakers in both the federal government and regional states.