Residents of Somalias capital Mogadishu will vote on Thursday in municipal elections meant to pave the way for the East African countrys first direct national polls in more than half a century.
With the exception of votes in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway region of Somaliland, Somalia last held direct elections in 1969, months before military general, Mohamed Siad Barre, took power in a coup.
After years of civil war that followed Barres fall in 1991, indirect elections were introduced in 2004.
