NEBE Proclamation Gives Hope for Parities, Confidence to the Board

Addis Ababa April 17/2019 The recently approved proclamation that provided for the establishment of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia gives hope for parties and confidence to the board to function as a neutral body and without any meddling.

The House of Peoples’ Representatives has freshly approved a proclamation that aims to promote democracy and help the electoral board to reestablish itself to hold free and fair election in the country.

According to the proclamation, the Electoral Board is established with its own legal personality as an autonomous organ independent from influence of the government or other entity.

It also stated that members of the board will be appointed by the House of People’s Representatives in accordance with article 102 of the constitution upon nomination by the prime minister and have to be free from membership in any political party.

Speaking to ENA some parties expressed their hope on the proclamation to bring liberalized electoral board, and deepen democratic, free and fair election.

President of Dialogue for Unity and Democracy Party (DUDP) Sasahulh Kebede said the proclamation has helped to widen the horizon of democracy in the country.

He said that the proclamation has tried to fill the gaps and missing links in the preceding proclamation like incorporating opinions from the public and parties.S

“The proclamation tried to include the suggestions from the public and parties. The House of Peoples Representatives has conducted a number of discussions with parties and the public to get input and our party has participated on the discussion,” he said.  

Sasahulh has pinned his hope on the proclamation saying “We expect that free and neutral electoral board consisting mainly of professionals unshackled by any form of pressure.”  

Deputy Chairperson of the Oromo Unity Libration Front (OULF), Omar Mohamed, on his part said the proclamation is better improved than the previous one as it promotes neutralism, professionalism and provides room for disputes resolution during elections.

Omar, however, insisted on the need for the full implementation of the proclamation as soon as possible.

“We expect that the proclamation has to be fully implemented soon, because we have number of proclamations that were made to remain on self. So we call on the government for immediate action to implement the proclamation.”

NEBE Chairperson, Birtukan Midekssa, stated that the proclamation gives confidence for the board to be free, so as to serve all parties without partiality.

Considering the number of articles incorporated in the proclamation to ensure operational freedom for the board, she confidently assured that the coming election will be ‘fully democratic’.

“It has included that new articles that assures the neutralism of the electoral board, for example it gives us freedom to recruit employees based on our standard without violating the public service law”, she said.

She added, “It also allows us to have our own regulations on budget utilization, for example we can discuss about our budget directly with the parliament without any interference of the ruling party, so this means a lot to us.”

Getachew Assefa, Assistant Professor at Addis Ababa University said Ethiopia has been criticized on lack of neutral electoral institution for years.

He pointed out that having free electoral institution is one of the indicators of successful journey towards democracy, adding that “the recent recently approved proclamation is a game changer in the process of democratization in Ethiopia.

“The electoral board is among the top key democratic institutions of the country, so restructuring it is vital thing to address the concern of the competing political parties and improve its institutional structure.”

Despite the delay in drafting and approving, the proclamation has been a landmark achievement for conducting the nationwide election due in a year’s time.