It is known that the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia has set a timetable for the 6th General Election. One of the ongoing activities is the registration of candidates, and according to the schedule, the next major task is to conduct voter registration.
Among the challenges faced by the National Electoral Board since it started implementing election related activities are delays in the preparation of constituency offices and the opening of offices due to the lack of preparation of the offices after the training of the polling station workers. In some regions, the required offices have not been set up and the registration of candidates has not started according to the schedule and has been divided into two rounds. Lack of transportation for the distribution of ballot papers and the recruitment of independent polling station workers are the most important and time-consuming activities.
Accordingly, the Board reviewed the registration process and extended it to four days in the regions where the first round of registration was started. It also noted that there was a problem in the preparation of offices in the regions where the second round of registration of candidates was started. It is also known that the National Electoral Board is also conducting the recruitment of neutral election staff. More than 140,000 polling station workers have been recruited to conduct the audit, and this has consumed more time than planned.
Therefore, since the bureaucracy in regional offices caused delays, as there were some offices that were not ready after the registration dates began, since some political parties have also asked for more days for the registration of candidates to be extended, and as more time is needed to assess the transportation challenges faced during the registration of candidates and to prove the impartiality of candidates, the Board decided to move the voter registration from March 1, 2021, 2013 to March 25, 2021.
Therefore, voter registration for the 6th General Election will take place from March 25, 2021- April 23, 2021 The
Board will provide additional information regarding voter registration in the future.
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia
May 01, 2021