News: Electoral Board to run re-election in Bule Constituency after “a large-scale violation of law” during the 6th national election

Addis Abeba – The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced that it will hold a re-election at the Bule constituency, in Gedeo Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s (SNNP) Regional State, which is one of the constituencies where the board confirmed that there was “a large-scale violation of the law” during the 6th national election held on 21 June 2021 and 29 September 2021.

The board in its announcement said that the re-election will be held on 06 February 2023 along with the referendum that will be held in six zones and five special districts in the South-Central Region.

The board’s communication department told Addis Standard that after examining an appeal from one of the running parties, the Gedeo People’s Democratic Organization (GPDO), on irregularities on the election, the board ruled to re-run the election held in the Bule constituency in Bule woreda of the Gedeo zone.

The board through its mobile representatives looked into the claims raised by the appellant that accused ruling party officials for intervention on the election process; claim on the arrest of some of the its members; hindrances on the observation and mobility of its representatives while officials of the ruling party were let to move around, the communication department said.

The board also added that it is evaluating enabling conditions to undertake re-elections in other constituencies in different regions where the 6^th national election could not be undertaken for enabling security circumstances.

It is recalled that last year in June the board decided that 54 constituencies affected by ballot paper defects were set to undertake re-election on September 6, 2021 alongside 40 other constituencies where the NEBE previously said elections cannot take place due to security reasons and voters’ registration irregularities. AS