Ethiopia has announced a new date for the twice-delayed national elections in Election News

The June 21 polls were seen as a key test of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s democratic reforms.

The Ethiopian poll body said the twice-delayed national elections will now take place on June 21, marking the start of a new countdown to the key test of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s democratic reforms.

Surveys were supposed to be conducted for the first time in Africa’s second most populous country last August, but officials pushed them to June 5 this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last weekend, polling station chairman Birtukan Midex announced that a new delay was needed due to logistical problems related to tasks such as training election staff and printing and distributing ballot papers.

Solyana Shimeles, a spokeswoman for the polling station, announced the new date on June 21 at a press conference after meetings with the Abiy government, opposition parties and regional officials.

Solyan said he does not expect any further delays, citing the rainy season that will begin in June and that it could cause catastrophe with infrastructure.

“We are trying [hold] before the rainy season, ”he said.

Lack of staff

The logistical challenges are also expected to be staggering with the delay, and Solyana estimated on Thursday that management would need to hire more than 100,000 employees and train them in voting day procedures and results tables.

He said the shortage of staff is particularly noticeable so far in the Afar and Somalia regions, where enrollment began late.

Abiy came to power in 2018 on the eve of several anti-government protests and promised to break Ethiopia’s authoritarian past to some extent by holding the most democratic elections the country has ever seen.

His reform agenda won him the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, but his tenure has confused security challenges, especially the six-month war in the northern Tigray region, which will not run in the June 21 elections.

About 36 million Ethiopians voted to vote last weekend, although no records have been recorded. ethnic violence, among others, in the most populous regions of the country, Oromia and Amhara.

Conflict-affected areas

Solyana said it will be “very difficult” to include these conflict-ridden districts on June 21st.

But he said he hoped voters in those areas would have the opportunity to vote before a new parliamentary session begins in early October.

Elections will elect national and regional parliamentarians. National parliamentarians elect the prime minister and president as head of government, largely in a ceremonial role.

Abiy’s previous governing coalition claimed a resounding majority in the previous two elections, with observers saying they fell far short of international rules of fairness.

A more open competition in 2005 yielded huge gains for the opposition, but resulted in a deadly crackdown on protests over the controversial results.

This year some opposition parties, especially in the Oromia region born in Abiy, have chosen to boycott, accusing their candidates of arrest and vandalizing the offices.