Answer: The Board had notified councils of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa cities that their voting day will be separate from the national calendar. This is because federal and regional constituencies are separate from each other. Constituencies of city administrations/ regions are decided by the cities or regions themselves, and the Board administers election in constituencies that were determined by the states/city administrations. For example, during the 2005 election, the constituencies from which nominations were made for Addis Ababa City Administration council and the House of Representatives were the same. And ballot counting for the two councils was done side by side. Hence, election officials report the results to the same constituency. However, at the 2008 city council elections, the city government changed the constituencies and formed sub-cities as constituencies, and elections were conducted accordingly. Then after, elections for the city council and the federal councils were held on separate days. The Dire Dawa city administration, in contrast to the federal seat (higher only by 2 seats), has 47 kebeles in it. These Kebeles are used by the city administration as constituencies, thus when a person gives vote, the constituency ballots are cast for a federal seat and regional seat vary. The variation in constituencies makes ballot counting very difficult. It is recalled that the Dire Dawa city election was held separately from the federation.
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