Opposition party leaders have criticized officials at the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) for what they say are double standards in the drafting of a new election proclamation.
The Board is looking to introduce a wide range of fundamental amendments to the Electoral, Political Parties Registration and Election Proclamation, which was ratified in 2019. The draft was the subject of discussions last week.
Among the major changes is a proposal to include the House of Federation on election ballots. The Constitution states that members of the upper house of Parliament are to be elected by members of regional councils, however, election officials want to see the vote in the hands of the public.
Opposition parties strongly oppose the proposal, rejecting the Board’s arguments that such a vote would be constitutional.
Meanwhile, opposition party leaders have requested the Board to include a ‘proportional representation’ clause in the bill. This would allow opposition party members to join Parliament based on a certain quota, regardless of election results.
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Essentially, proportional representation would force the winner of the majority of the 547 parliamentary seats to cede a portion of them to opposition parties based on the ratio of votes that did not go towards the winning party.
Opposition leaders argue the arrangement is critical to amplify the voices of people who did not vote for the winning party. Details concerning the ratio of seats would have been up for discussion if officials at the NEBE had not rejected the proposal outright, labeling it unconstitutional.
To opposition party leaders, including changes to the House of Federation election approach but refusing the inclusion of proportional representation amounts to a double standard.
“The bill has double standard approaches. Proportional representation is a sign of the modern electoral process and crucial for the equal representation of all ideas in Parliament. We requested this to be included but the Board stated it would be against the Constitution. Meanwhile, the Board bypassed the Constitution to change the electoral process for the House of Federation from indirect to direct voting,” said Wasihun Tesfaye, a senior member of EZEMA.
His party has also opposed the bill’s proposal to limit the number of voters at one polling station to 1,000.
“This would drive up the number of stations required across the country. Since opposition parties do not have the capacity to deploy observers to such a huge number of stations, it would pose questions about the quality of the election,” said Wasihun.
Desta Dinka is secretary at the Council of Political Parties and a representative of the Medrek opposition party. He pointed out other issues with the draft put forward by the Board.
“In many parts, the bill states that details will be determined by an NEBE directive. This is concerning,” said Desta, who participated in consultations during the drafting process.
He criticized the draft for failing to amend a clause requiring 4,000 signatories to form a regional political party and 10,000 signatories for a national party. He believes the thresholds are too high, particularly in light of security issues that make it difficult for party members to travel and collect signatures.
Desta says the Council lobbied for the inclusion of proportional representation.
“Proportional representation is crucial,” he said.
Solomon Ayele, Council chairperson, criticized election officials for failing to present the draft to opposition parties before publicizing it during the discussion last week.
“We have been requesting the Board to include proportional representation in its laws for a long time. But now it is excluded,” he said.
The Council plans to forward its critiques and complaints to the NEBE, according to Solomon
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