Electoral Board to Postpone Polling Day by Up To Two Weeks

Addis Ababa, May 15/2021 (ENA)  The National Electoral Board Ethiopia announced that it will reschedule the polling day for the 6th General Election by 10 or 15 days.

National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE)Chairperson, Birtukan Midekssa made the announcement at a discussion the board held with political parties today.

She said the board needs additional time to fully finalize the preparation and hold the election in same day throughout the country.

According to the chair, extension of the deadline for voters registration, delay in opening voter registration centers in some  parts of the country contributed to the decision to postpone the polling day.

Furthermore, the delays in the printing of ballot papers by ten days and recruitment of election supervisors required postponement.

Therefore, Birtukan noted that the Board will re-schedule the polling day by some 10 or 15 days and the exact date will be announced after consultations with the political parties.  

Also, the election days scheduled for the two city administration and regional states will be changed and the polling day for all would be announced.  

It is to be recalled that the election days announced were June 5 and June 12 for regional states and city administration respectively.  

According to the chair, the board decided to hold the election on same day across the country based on the discussions it had with the Political Parties Joint Council.

On the occasion, NEBE Chair Bertukan also said that voters registration for the election concluded yesterday and more than 36.2 million people were registered in 46,088 polling stations.