The Federal Member State (FMS) of Puntland has kicked off elections for its new senators.
Puntland becomes the third regional state after Jubbaland and Southwest to conduct senatorial or parliamentary elections.
Somalia has struggled to hold the much-delayed elections for close to a year now.
Parliamentary polls were supposed to kick off in December 2020 and presidential elections in February 2021 but none of those took place.
However, the nation is now on course to hold its elections.
Puntland goes to the polls on Wednesday, August 11 a day after President Said Abdullahi Deni published the list of candidates who would be vying for the 11 Upper House seats.