Madar (Mogadishu) - Somalia's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, November 5, 2026, that the constitutional mandates of the federal parliament, the president and the government expired this year, declaring all actions taken after their expiry unconstitutional and void, Somali news site Garowe Online reported.
The ruling was issued by the court's five-member Constitutional Division, led by Justice Salah Sheikh Ibrahim Dhiblawe, on a petition by former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed challenging the constitutional amendment process and its effects. The court found he lacked standing to challenge the amendment process itself, but upheld his challenge to the measures that followed from it, notably the extension of mandates.
The court held that amendments introducing new terms must state explicitly whether they apply to sitting institutions; otherwise their original four-year mandates under the 2012 Provisional Constitution remain in force. As a result, both houses of parliament and the government reached the end of their terms on April 14, 2026, and President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud on May 15, 2026, the site reported.
Only the federal government may run a caretaker administration, limited to day-to-day affairs, the court said, ordering all parties to the electoral process to agree on a workable election framework within 30 days and to hold elections within 90 days.
The ruling came a day after the president dismissed Supreme Court Chief Justice Baashe Yusuf Ahmed on Wednesday night and named a successor, according to Garowe Online. In an announcement on Facebook before the ruling was published, the presidency cited "concerns... about the need for an efficient and fair judiciary", while the court said the president had no authority to dismiss the judge and accused him of obstructing the administration of justice, AFP reported. The government had declared a one-year transition to prepare the country's first nationwide direct elections, with the president insisting the extension was lawful under constitutional amendments passed in March, while the opposition called it a power grab; the extension sparked violent protests in Mogadishu, AFP reported.
Somalia is also battling an al-Shabab insurgency as international donors cut military funding, and Uganda said this week it would withdraw all its troops at the end of next year, the agency added.
