Answer: The drafted law obliges the election board to formulate guidelines in order to accommodate political parties that were registered under the previous law. Therefore, political parties that were registered before the latest law is issued will be accommodated in and the Board, in consultation with the parties, will formulate a guideline to help them fulfill the criteria
Answer: The number of signatures national and regional political parties have to collect is not exaggerated when considering the principles behind. Political parties should have good public base and should have strong ties with it, and they must be representative of the populace.
Although the claim of some parties that it is difficult to collect 10,000 signatures due to the prevailing security problem seems convincing, it is better to remember that when a law is passed, it is not for one year only. The law will be a future abiding document hence it is better to be far-sighted.
Answer: It is known that the previous criteria for candidacy were to be determined by lot according to number (12) and there were many complaints because it is restricting. Therefore, the new draft is intended to lift the restrictions and accommodate all parties and individuals who are seeking to run for office. The person who collects the candidate supporters’ signatures in the constituency will introduce himself/herself to the community in the process and will prepare for the election campaign.
Answer: In order to reduce the use of public resources for political party work, which has been the subject of much controversy in the past, the purpose of distancing government employees from their workplace if they are running for office is to separate political party work from government work. The first draft stated that government employees would temporarily quit their jobs without benefits, but based on input from political parties, it was amended to allow civil servants to use their annual leave for up to two years.
Answer: The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is currently working in shifts while implementing social distancing in case of tasks that need to be done collectively and with most of its staff working from home. It will continue to carry out activities that will increase the readiness of the Board's ability to conduct the election properly when the situation returns to normal. Accordingly, it is collecting information on the digital communication of political parties. It also tries to make the communication with the parties as digital as possible.
NEBE is introducing Ethiopia’s first-ever mobile and web-based VSR and ARS system to modernize the country’s voter registration process. The digital system is designed to improve accuracy, reduce administrative workload, and increase accessibility for all eligible voters. By enabling citizens to register themselves or receive assistance using digital tools, the system helps minimize long queues, reduce registration errors, and ease logistical challenges. It also helps prevent illegal attempts at duplicate or second-time registrations.
After the 6th General Election, NEBE conducted a comprehensive lessons-learned exercise with stakeholders to identify areas for improvement. One of the key recommendations was the modernization of the voter registration system. Recognizing the need to modernize and catch up with global and regional standards, NEBE committed to developing a digital voter registration system using its internal technical capacity. Although Ethiopia has lagged behind many African countries such as Kenya in adopting election technologies, NEBE has taken deliberate steps to close this gap.
Answer: The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia is accountable to the House of Representatives. It submits performance reports to the House of Representatives and has no choice but to notify the House of Representatives of its decision. In accordance with its responsibilities, the Board did not perform any task outside of its jurisdiction or did not neglect any of its responsibilities within its jurisdiction other than submitting the problem to the House of Representatives and making a research-based decision.
Answer: Recognizing that there is a short time for parties to have their candidates registered, and based on the appeal that signatures collection in the time of COVID-19 epidemic is risky, the Board requested the House of Representatives to exempt parties of this task only for the 6th general election. Though some concerned individuals were asking why the board did not take into consideration the current situation of Covid and the signature collection by parties, the deadline for founding members’ signature collection ended before the epidemic reached in Ethiopia.
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.
