Ethiopia Cancels June Vote Citing Logistical Setbacks

The Ethiopian Electoral Commission says it is postponing parliamentary elections scheduled for June 5 due to growing logistical difficulties, without setting a new date.

0
228

The Ethiopian Electoral Commission says it is postponing parliamentary elections scheduled for June 5 due to growing logistical difficulties, without setting a new date.

Making the announcement on Saturday, Election Commission Chairwoman Birtukan Mideksa said she could not provide a new date until she had reviewed proposals from political parties.

She said her commission was behind schedule on finalizing voter registration, training electoral staff, printing and distributing ballot papers.

She added that it proved almost impossible to achieve all of this by the dates initially set stating the new date would take into account the rainy season which runs from about June to September.

This is the third time the vote meant to usher in new national and regional parliamentarians is being postponed under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

Conflict in Tigray and ongoing deadly violence in the Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Afar regions have undermined the success of the exercise.

Also, tensions over the Nile have also jolted Ethiopia which is locked in a dispute with Egypt and Sudan over a mega dam it is developing on the river.

However, Addis Ababa said last week only 37 million people had enrolled for the exercise, out of a population of 110 million.


Discover more from LN247

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.