Ethiopian authorities have postponed polls in around a fifth of the country’s constituencies, extending a months-long delay which prevented citizens from voting in a June election due to ethnic violence and logistical problems.
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced in a statement late on Monday that a second batch of polling in one-fifth of the country’s 547 constituencies was scheduled for 6 September, but will now take place on 30 September,.
The decision followed a meeting with politicians, who told NEBE officials that “considering the current situation the country is in, it’s not appropriate to hold elections currently”.
NEBE said voting will take place on 30 September in the Somali, Harari and Southern regions, alongside a separate referendum on proposals to create a new South West region.
However, no election date has been set for Tigray, where fighting between Abiy’s forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has killed thousands of people and pushed hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions.
Each side has accused the other of preventing aid convoys from reaching those in need as the violence expands to the neighbouring Amhara and Afar regions.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s party won a landslide in the June vote, despite a brutal war in the northern region of Tigray, which was among the areas where elections did not take place.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
