Somali authorities on Monday have started regional consultations to discuss the 2016 electoral process across the Horn of Africa nation.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the forums are being held in Mogadishu, Baidoa, Kismayo, Garowe and Adado, and will each be attended by up to 150 people from the region.

"Today is a very exciting day in the development of Somalia as a democratic nation as people from all over Somalia will gather to consider and discuss the best way for Somalia to support a peaceful transition of political power in September 2016," Mohamud said in a statement issued in Mogadishu.

The regional forums are being convened in order to identify and document the different perspectives that exist. The president said the consultative process will not be an easy task as it will take time and commitment.

The output of the consultations will be a document that reflects the perspectives gathered in each of the consultations.

The results of the consultative process, in the form of an agreed national electoral process in 2016, will be presented by the National Consultation Forum, before the end of year.

The Provisional Federal Constitution states that the original four-year term of the current federal legislative branch (the Federal Parliament) of the Federal Government of Somalia ends in August 2016 while the federal executive term ends in September 2016. Enditem