Somalia’s lawmakers will listen to remarks from 20 presidential hopefuls at a gathering on Wednesday at the airport hangar in Mogadishu.
President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed Farmaajo and two former presidents, Hassan Sheikh Mohamoud and Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, are among the 39 candidates that have registered.
15 minutes are allotted to each contestant. On Thursday, nineteen additional candidates will give presentations to highlight their policies.
The number of presidential contenders is the greatest in Somalia’s history. In 2000, there were 16 presidential contenders; in 2004, there were 26; in 2009, there were 11; in 2012, there were 22; and in 2017, there were 21 candidates.