The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has proposed holding the sixth general elections in late May or early June 2021. The government postponed the elections, which were scheduled to take place in August 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The board’s remarks came on 30^th October during a consultative meeting organised for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and the media to discuss precautionary measures against COVID-19 during voting.

The board requested an additional 1.1 billion birr (approximately £22 million) for COVID-19 precautionary measures and deployment of more manpower at polling centres.

The board also proposed:

• providing training for poll workers from mid-December to mid-January
• conducting voters’ registration from mid-January to the third week of February.
• registering candidates beginning from early to mid-February, and
• holding election campaign from mid-February till the election’s last week

…a free and fair election

In a speech to a joint session of both houses of parliament, President Sahle-Work Zewde vowed that the upcoming election will be free, fair and credible, and that the government would ensure peace, stability and security.

The president said, “We managed to restructure the country’s electoral board in a way it can function independently.”