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Ethiopia: new postponement of electoral polls in several regions

2021-08-24T10:41:37.280Z


The Ethiopian authorities have postponed the national elections scheduled for September 6 to 30 in a fifth of the country's constituencies, ...


The Ethiopian authorities have postponed from 6 to 30 September the national elections scheduled for a fifth of the country's constituencies, which could not be held in June due to ethnic violence and logistical problems.

See also Ethiopia: the Prime Minister calls on civilians to fight against the forces of Tigray

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Prosperity Party is already assured of a majority in Parliament, having won 410 of the 436 seats at stake in the constituencies where the vote took place on June 21.

These elections, initially scheduled for August 2020, had been postponed twice due to the coronavirus, then to logistical difficulties.

No date set in the Tigray region

However, they could not be held on June 21 in a fifth of the constituencies, due to violence and armed insurgencies in some or for logistical problems in others, the authorities explained.

In the majority of them, the vote was postponed to September 6.

The new postponement follows a meeting with political leaders who ruled that "

given the current situation in the country, it is not appropriate to hold elections at this time,

" the electoral commission said (Nebe) .

Read also Ethiopia: at least 12 civilians killed in a region bordering Tigray

The vote will therefore take place on September 30 in the regions of Somali, Harari and the South for the national elections, as well as for a referendum on the creation of an eleventh region in the southwest of the country.

No date has been set for the 38 constituencies in the Tigray region, where a "

law and order

" operation launched by Abiy Ahmed in November to remove dissident regional authorities has escalated into a devastating conflict.

No rights violations

These elections, supposed to bring Abiy Ahmed the popular anointing he lacks, were notably boycotted in the Oromia region, the most populous in the country, by major opposition parties who denounced the arrest of some their candidates or the ransacking of their offices.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), an independent body attached to the government, found in a preliminary report that there were no "

massive, widespread and systematic violations

" of rights during the June 21 elections. . But she noted in some constituencies "

inappropriate arrests

", intimidation and "

harassment

" of observers and journalists, before and after the vote. In the Oromia region, the EHRC also noted "

several murders

" in "

the days preceding the vote

".

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-08-24

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