Somalia to implement direct universal suffrage by 2024.

Somalia's government and federal member states have agreed to introduce direct universal suffrage with local elections set for June 2024, ending a complex indirect system in place since 1969. The reform aims to encourage a multiparty political system that is independent and corruption-free. Somalia has been struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chaos, battling a bloody Islamist insurgency and natural disasters, including a punishing drought that has left millions facing hunger.