In a major setback, Ethiopia has announced its decision to postpone its highly anticipated national elections originally scheduled to hold on August 29, 2020. This makes the East African country the first to postpone major polls as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.
The country’s National Electoral Board made the announcement on Tuesday citing delays and impediments associated with carrying out preparatory activities associated with the election. “With the existing condition in the country, the Board said it had no choice but to suspend its current schedule and forward its resolution to the parliament.”
It also announced that a new schedule would be communicated “after the risk of the virus has been resolved.”
The election was set to test the popularity of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who had promised to make history by ensuring free and fair elections. Since coming into office, Ahmed has worked to diffuse tension in the country by ending conflicts with neighbouring Eritrea and the inclusion of previously excluded political parties, a feat that earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.
The last elections in 2015 produced an overwhelming result that had every single parliamentary seat in favour of the previous government.
Parties React to Postponement
Political parties in Ethiopia have come forward with different reactions to the announcement. According to Quartz, which spoke to two different parties involved in the polls, Natnael Feleke, the spokesperson of Ethiopia Citizens for Social Justice, said: “It was expected and it is a decision that was justified considering the spread of COVID-19 and this was also our view to postponing.”
On the other hand, Jawar Mohammed, a political candidate with the Oromo Federalist Congress in Ethiopia, reacted differently, saying: “The Board was already behind the schedule by weeks before the coronavirus outbreak became an issue. There was no way they could have held the election as scheduled. The pandemic just gave them justifiable excuses.”
So far, 29 cases of the coronavirus have been identified in Ethiopia, forcing the government to institute a lockdown that has seen the closure of schools and put an end to different social gatherings of people.
