[ad_1]
The Ethiopian National Electoral Board (NEBE) on Friday, December 11, 2020, presented an invitation to interested local civil society organizations (CSOs) to submit to the board their application to participate as local observers in the upcoming sixth elections. general.
The board said that local CSOs, as observers of an election, will play an important role in keeping the upcoming general elections free, fair and independent.
Based on input gathered during consultations with CSO representatives and other stakeholders, the board stated that it has already approved a code of conduct for election observers, which provides guidance for the relationship between the board and local CSOs.
The board invited legally registered non-profit and non-governmental CSOs, free of any political leanings, to apply.
Therefore, local CSOs that meet the requirements stipulated in the observer code of conduct can submit their request within 15 business days from Friday, December 11, 2020.
The reporter previously reported that a consortium of more than 165 locally established civil society organizations were awaiting board approval to initiate voter education on multimedia platforms for the upcoming elections. The consortium called the Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Electoral Organizations (CECOE), launched in early 2020, aims to provide civic and electoral education, election monitoring and observation, advocacy and stakeholder engagement, and research and development. capabilities.
The Ethiopian national elections scheduled for August 2020 were postponed due to the threat posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The postponement was a controversial move for Ethiopian political parties, especially the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which held regional elections unilaterally in defiance of the federal government’s decision to postpone the elections.
After the Board held discussions with different stakeholders, it later announced the end of May or the first weeks of June 2021 as the revised provisional calendar for the sixth general election.
