Addis Ababa - Ethiopia's upcoming national
vote will probably be held on August 16, the electoral board said
on Wednesday, the first poll under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed who
has eased political restrictions and opened the economy since
taking office in 2018.
Ethiopia's 100 million people are seeing unprecedented
political change, but Abiy's reforms have also uncorked ethnic
rivalries that have driven more than 2 million from their homes.
Electoral board head Birtukan Mideksa told a meeting of
political parties and civil society groups that plans to hold
the vote for parliament and regional councils in May had been
postponed as neither authorities nor parties would be ready.
The new Aug. 16 date is tentative, she told Reuters. Results
would be due between Aug. 17-26.
There have been regular parliamentary elections since the
Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took
power in 1991 but, with one exception, none were competitive.
Africa's youngest leader, Abiy, 43, was appointed by the
EPRDF after three years of anti-government protests, promising
reforms including a credible multi-party poll in 2020.
He has freed journalists and activists, lifted bans on
political parties, appointed former dissidents to high-level
posts and prosecuted officials for rights abuses.
But violence in the regions has forced 2.4 million people
out of their homes, according to the United Nations, and delayed
both a national census and local elections.
Opposition politicians have repeatedly warned that delays to
the parliamentary election could fuel unrest and dent the
democratic credentials of Abiy, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace
Prize for forging a peace accord with Eritrea.
There was no immediate reaction from opposition parties to
the probable Aug. 16 election date.
As well as political change, Abiy has also kickstarted
ambitious economic reforms aimed at opening up one of Africa's
fastest-growing but most closed economies. The government has
targeted telecoms as the first sector to be
liberalised.