Sidama Votes to Become Region in Referendum: Nat'l Electoral Board of Ethiopia

ENA November 24/2019 The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia announced today that the majority of the voters in the recent referendum have opted for a regional state.

In the preliminary result released today, NEBE said 2, 225,249 voted for “Shaffetta”, calling for the formation of Sidama regional state while 33,463 voted for “Gojo”, the symbol for remaining as part of the Southern Regional State.

A total of 2,777,063 voters were registered in the referendum,

In its official statement the electoral board declared that the Sidama have now chosen to become a regional state.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission stated yesterday that the Sidama referendum held on November 20, 2019 was peaceful and no major incident was reported on polling day, despite a compressed time period for the elections and the tense political environment in the country.