News Alert: Parliament to convene for a special meeting tomorrow to approve differed election alternatives
Addis Abeba, May 04/2020 – Members of the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) will convene for the 3rd Special Meeting of the House tomorrow morning to approve one of the four alternatives presented by the government vis a vis Ethiopia’s differed election, HoPR said.
On April 29, the the ruling Prosperity Party (PP) presented four options as alternative to avert a possible constitutional crisis. The governing party’s alternatives which was presented at a meeting with opposition parties representatives include: Dissolving the Parliament; Declaring a State of Emergency; Amending the Constitution; and seeking Constitutional Interpretations.
This comes in the backdrop of a closed door meeting by PP’s Central Committee members on April 26 and 27 during which the four options were extensively discussed. Sources close to the matter told Addis Standard on conditions of anonymity that the Central Committee of PP has already opted for the fourth alternative: to seek constitutional interpretations.
On April 30 HoPR has approved NEBE’s decision to postpone the elections and referred the matter to the Legal, Justice and Administration Affairs Standing Committee of the House for further deliberations. Today, the House said its members were meeting tomorrow “to approve one of the four recommendations by the Standing Committee with regard to the election,” HoPR said.
The background of the current debate on the matter was preceded by the March 30 decision of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to postpone the August 29 national elections. AS
