NEBE Consults Political Parties on the 7th General Elections
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) received various concerns from political parties during the launch of the provisional election calendar on October 20, 2025. Notable issues included the removal of criteria for candidates to secure endorsement signatures and the need for consultation with the ruling parties.
The NEBE has been working on solutions to address the concerns of political parties. During its fifth annual working period and third regular meeting on December 4, 2025, the House of Peoples' Representatives of the FDRE (HoPR) approved amendments to lift the criteria for candidates to secure endorsement signatures for elections. Today, December 22, 2025, the NEBE consulted with political parties regarding the 7th general election.
The Chairperson of the NEBE, Melatwork Hailu, in her opening remarks, stated that the aim of the consultation is to identify expectations from stakeholders to ensure the free, fair, and impartial conduct of the 7th general election. She highlighted the creation of an enabling political environment and the continuity of similar consultations as key objectives. Before opening the floor for discussion, she provided a briefing on the Board's pre-election activities.
Participating political parties, after expressing their appreciation for the NEBE's announcement that the criteria for candidates to secure endorsement signatures for elections have been lifted, also raised a list of their concerns ahead of the election.
In her closing remarks, Melatwork expressed appreciation to the political parties for their contributions. While addressing the concerns of the participating political parties, she reaffirmed that similar consultations will be organized to foster a peaceful and enabling political environment moving forward. Regarding the impartiality of poll workers, she reminded participants that the Board has sent a list of poll workers and is awaiting responses from political parties to identify and provide names if they have concerns about any poll workers' impartiality. In a similar vein, she requested political parties to submit relevant documents that would enable the NEBE to allocate the budget effectively.
Melat also addressed questions expressing concern about whether the election will be conducted in the Tigray Regional State. The Chairperson explained that the Board had a meeting with the Interim Government of the Tigray Regional State last week and is optimistic about the results of the consultation.