Answer: The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia issued a statement on April 2, 2020. The main purpose of the statement is to announce that it will not be able to hold the election on the scheduled date of August 29, 2020. It has conducted a study to reach this decision. The National Election Board of Ethiopia is accountable to the House of Representatives and has informed the House of Representatives of its decision. It did not give an extended election date but that it could not hold the election due to problems beyond its capacity.

Answer: The Board has consulted with political parties on the impact of COVID-19 on the election in two rounds of consultations, during which political parties made various comments saying they understand its impact on the electoral process as it is an international crisis, especially in a country like Ethiopia. They also called up on the Election Board to work in consultation with the relevant government bodies. In addition to this, they praised the Board for holding the consultation and suggested that the government's 14-day ban should be considered in the decision-making process.

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.

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.