Lawmakers Direct Election Postponement Bill to Standing Committee for Further Review

Ethiopia's legislators have directed a bill for the postponement of the upcoming national elections to the Legal, Justice & Administration Affairs Standing Committee for further review with three votes in opposition and seven votes abstaining.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia(NEBE), under Birtukan Mideksa, proposed in March the postponement of the election due to the effects of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). She has explained to MPs that the Board conducted an assessment and came up with a scenario that shows that the government's restrictions against public gatherings are an obstacle to the Board's work to undertake voter registration, recruitment and training of electoral staff, as well as other pre-election preparatory tasks.

With its initial plan, the Board had scheduled to hold the general elections on August 29, 2020, while election campaigns would have been held from May 28 to August 24. It had also planned to register voters and candidates between April 22 to May 21 and May 13 to May 27, respectively. The result was also set to be announced between August 30 and September 8, 2020.

The proposal of the election postponement faces an intense backlash from Adhana Haile (PhD), MP-TPLF, who argued that the spread of the virus in Ethiopia had not reached the status of a pandemic and that the bill lacks clarity in stating the new date.

Tracking COVID-19

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Source: Coronavirus monitor API

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