Ethiopia says election process successful

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said Tuesday the third national elections are being carried out by an efficient executive body and the processes undertaken so far were successful.

NEBE Chairman Kemal Bedri told journalists that the success has been achieved in the course of the elections due to the capacity the board has managed to build as an independent and non-partisan body.

Kemal said the board has deployed 100,000 election executives with the capacity of executing the elections efficiently and elections so far held at different levels, including that of the constituent assembly, have shown the efficiency of the board.

The chairman said the board has been able to draw useful lessons from previously held elections, adding that experiences shared from external experts and observers have also significantly improved the capacity of the board.

He said that election executives include civil servants, health and agriculture professionals.

Election executives were also offered training based on election manuals prepared with the support of the Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS).

ERIS, set up in 1991, is a leading European provider of electoral assistance.

Concerning the accusations of some contesting parties that the board is not capable to quickly resolve problems encountered during the election process, Kemal said while problems should have been resolved by the joint forums of political parties at the respective constituencies, they are being directed to the board.

The board has devised two structures of resolving problems, Kemal said, adding that one is through electoral office coordinators assigned at the level of constituencies, while the other is through investigation committees assigned from the NEBE headquarters.Thirty-six political parties will contest places in the 547-seat federal parliament in the May 15 elections, which the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is strongly favored to win.

Up to 25.6 million people have registered to vote at 38,000 polling stations, according to NEBE.

Ethiopia holds national polls every five years.

Source: Xinhua