Answer: The constituencies where the electorate cast vote for regional and national councils are different. Therefore, doing both at the same time would create confusion for voters. Election officials count the ballots and would send the result to the relevant constituency. In Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, they count the ballots for different councils and would send the result to two or three constituencies. Reporting to different constituencies could open the door for errors in ballots counting and makes the election administration difficult.
Answer: A person can register as a voter after confirming that he/she is a resident in the area of the polling station. Once a person meets this requirement, then he/she should obtain a voter registration card. In case there arises a suspicion that a voter who is not a resident of the locality has been registered, there is a mechanism to sort out the issue. After voter registration is over there will be a 10 days’ time when voters’ registration roster will be open for checking by anyone. Political parties, observers, and civil society organizations can file a complaint.
Answer: Conducting the referendum of Southwest Ethiopia side by side with the national election makes it much easier and less expensive. As the Board is preparing for the national election, there is not enough time to organize a referendum in advance. In addition, conducting the referendum alongside the national election reduces expenditure that is required to arrange the event by half.
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.
Answer: Election officials report only for one constituency. This will prevent an occurrence of errors in counting the result; voters can cast their ballots without any confusion; election observers and journalists as well as party representatives can monitor the election process using their full potential (without scattering their workforce), and they can also verify credibility of the election.
Answer: The National Electoral Board had a series of meetings with political parties before the timetable was announced. After the consultations, two main issues that could pose challenges were identified. The first one was the challenge the parties are facing that prevents them from moving freely in regions, and second was the security situation in different parts of the country. Based on this assessment, the Board undertook two major tasks to go around the loopholes. One of them is the preparation of an election security plan by the government.
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) held a consultative meeting with political parties on June 9, 2021. This is one of the frequent consultation forums with political parties, in which the Board reported on the challenges it is facing in printing ballot papers.
