Historical background and current status of Ethiopian election

1. Historical background and current status of Ethiopian election By Merga Bekana (Professor) Chairman National Electoral Board of Ethiopia

2. Election during the monarchy regime, 91931-1976 election started in Ethiopia in 1931 during the time of monarchy i.e. over a century ago with the establishment of the first parliament where there were no political parties . The term election was used by the king and his allies, and the king was the only person in the entire country entitled to elect the candidates who had possessed immovable property;

3. Election during the military regime (1976- 1991) Under the military regime, people could vote only for candidates of the regime’s Marxist-Leninist single party masquerading as the Workers Party of Ethiopia (WEP); Activities of democracy were simply labeled as traitors and enemies of the people and the country; With the demise of the brutal military dictatorship, the Ethiopian people entered from highly centralised undemocratic regime into Federal, decentralised and democratic system and gained real political freedom that came into an effect in 1991;

4. Typical features of the 3 regimes 1. Imperial regime: No parties allowed Election out come is for all regime candidates 2. Derg/military regime: Single ruling party; Election outcome is for all regime candidates 3. Democratic (EPRDF) regime: Multi-party Election outcome is for party candidates with various seats across the parties to the HoPR and RSC

5. Election after the demise of the military regime The constitution of the FDRE Proclamation No. 1/1995 provides for a multi-party representative democracy with universal adult suffrage, a bicameral federal; legislature, and elected regional councils and local councils; The Federal legislature consists of a directly elected lower house (the House of Peoples’ Representative, HoPR) and an upper house (the House of Federation, HoF); The Regional Council (RC) for each region decides whether that region’s representatives on the HoF are elected by the members of the RC or directly by the region’s people;

6. Election after the demise of….. Article 102 of the constitution establishes a National Electoral Board, “independent of any influence, to conduct in an impartial manner free and fair election in Federal and RSC” and provides for the appointment of Board members by the HoPR. Since then, Ethiopia held 4 General Elections and established a democratic state. The current National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has nine members and a permanent Secretariat.

9. National Electoral Board of Ethiopia The NEBE is: accountable to the HoPR, and legally established as an independent and autonomous organ for conducting elections having its own legal personality; the Head Office of the Board is in Addis Ababa. For the purpose of conducting elections, the Board shall have permanent and temporary branch offices from federal down to polling station level.

10. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the NEBE are: to ensure establishment of a government elected through a free, impartial and fair election in accordance with the constitution; to ensure the existence of an electoral system that enables political parties and private candidates, who respect the Constitution and Institutions established by it compete equally and impartially; to enable citizens to exercise their constitutional democratic rights to elect and be elected.

11. Members of the Board The composition of Board members shall take into consideration, national contribution, and gender representation, and at least one member of the Board shall be a lawyer. Criteria for the nomination of the members are: be loyal to the Constitution; be non-partisans; have professional competence; be known for their good conduct.

12. Members of the Board Board members are appointed in accordance with Article 102 of the Constitution by the House of Peoples’ Representatives upon recommendation by the Prime Minister; The prime Minister shall, before nominating Board members, who fulfil the criteria, ensure that there has been sufficient consultation forum for political organisations that have seats in the HoPR to ascertain that the nominees are independent and impartial.

13. Members of the Board The term of office of the Board members shall be five years. However, a Board member may serve for only one additional term. The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Board are appointed by the House of Peoples’ Representatives from among the members upon the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Chief Executive of the Secretariat of the Board shall be a non-voting member and secretary of the Board.

14. Powers and Duties of the Board Some of the powers and duties of the Board as described in the Amended Electoral Law, Proclamation No. 532/2007 are: execute impartially any election and referendum conducted in accordance with the Constitution and this Proclamation; facilitate and ascertain that elections held periodically and at every level are conducted in a free and fair manner; prepare and distribute documents and materials necessary for conducting elections;

15. Powers and Duties of the Board register and issue license to political parties, follow-up and supervise them in accordance with the law; recruit, on permanent and temporary basis, competent and non-partisan electoral officers required to conduct elections at every level, provide training to them and assign electoral officers seconded from other institutions; evaluate the implementation of periodical elections and electoral laws, undertake studies, collect and compile statistical data, identify areas that require amendment and submit same to concerned body, keep properly any electoral documents;

16. Powers and Duties of the Board widely provide to the public civic and voter education relating to elections; issue license to other bodies engaged in civic and voter education, follow and supervise their activities; organise and co-ordinate political parties’ joint forum; recruit and assign electoral officers from governmental and non-governmental organisations as necessary; give administrative decisions for disputes that occur in the election process, rectify electoral irregularities and decide on complaints submitted to it; issue regulations or directives which enables to conduct transparent, free and fair elections; certify and officially announce election results;

17. Electoral System A candidate, who received more votes than other candidates within a constituency shall be declared the winner. Code of conduct was produced last year by 58 political parties and approved by the parliament subsequent to their recommendation., The Board played only facilitation role.

18. Electoral Principles A candidate, who received more votes than other candidates within a constituency shall be declared the winner; Any election shall be conducted on the basis of universal suffrage and by direct and secret ballot through which the electors express their consent freely without discrimination with equal participation; Any Ethiopian whose electoral rights are not legally restricted shall be eligible to elect or to be elected; Each vote shall carry equal weight; No Ethiopian shall be compelled to elect or be elected.

19. Types of Elections General election: means elections to the HoPR Regional State Councils conducted every five years accordance with the laws; Local election: elections to Zonal, Woreda, City, Municipality, Sub City or Kebele councils conducted in accordance with relevant laws; By-election: elections conducted to fill in vacant seats of members whose mandates are terminated due to recall or any other reasons; Re-election: an election to be conducted upon the decision of the Board in accordance with the Electoral Law, or where candidates get equal votes and becomes impossible to determine the winner; Referendum: means a system of voting conducted when decided in accordance with the Constitution of the FDRE to assess public interest and to know the decision of the public.

20. Civic and voter education The Board shall conduct civic and voters education through the use of mass media and other means that enable to raise to public awareness; The Board may license other organisations as deemed necessary to offer civic and voter education; The Board may, as deemed necessary, enter a contract with a relevant body to offer civic and voter education.

21. Registration Timetable Registration for general elections is throughout the nation, begin and end at dates to be fixed by the Board. The Board must consult political parties before deciding on the dates for registration; The Board must indicate the date of registration in its election timetable and continually announce the date through mass media and advertisements 15 days prior to the start of the registration; The Board may, under special circumstances, decide a special registration date.

22. Registration of Electors: conditions for registration Any person who: is an Ethiopian, is 18 years old and above at the time of the registration; has been residing within the constituency for at least 6 months may be registered as an elector. no elector shall be registered more than once in a polling station or more than one polling station; An elector shall have only one elector’s card.

23. Criteria for candidature Any person who: is an Ethiopian is 21 years old and above at the time of the registration; is versed in the working language of the Regional State or the area of his intended candidature; has been regularly residing in the constituency of intended candidature for two years immediately preceding the date of the election; or His birth place is within the constituency of his intended candidature.

24. Nomination of Candidates Any legally registered political organisation may compete in elections conducted in accordance with the Amended Electoral Law by nominating candidates who fulfil the criteria; The top leadership of a political organisation shall notify the Board the list of candidates nominated by the political organisation; An evidence of nomination by a party and consent of the person to be nominated shall be presented along with details of candidature for candidates nominated by political organisations;

25. Nomination of Candidates A political organisation shall nominate only one candidate for a single council seat in a constituency; Any individual who fulfils the criteria may present himself as private candidate; Any candidate shall register in person. Where the candidate is unable to register in person, he may register provided that documentary evidences and witnesses that ascertain the candidate’s fulfilment of the criteria for candidature are presented through the political party that nominated the candidate or through his representative.

26. Vote Counting Vote counting for any election shall be carried out at polling station in accordance with the Law in the presence of representatives of candidates and public observers where the voting took place; Domestic election observers may observe the election and vote counting upon the issuance of license from the Board; Foreign observers invited by the government where necessary in accordance international law to which the country is a party or upon may invite foreign observers as deemed necessary .

27. Brief highlights of the 2010 Election Main features of the 4th round 2010 general election are: Population 79.4 million Female ∼ 39.37 Male ∼ 40.08 No. of eligible voters about 38 million No. of registered voters 31,926,520 No. of female voters 15,252, 240 (47.8%) No. of male voters 16,674,280 (52.2%) No. of polling stations 45,000 No. of electoral officers 250,000 No. of public observers 250,000

28. …. the 2010 Election No. of Domestic observers 41,000 from 16 different CSOs Observers from EU 200 Observers from AU 70 Total No. of P. parties 76 Total No. of contending parties 63 No. candidates to the HoPR 2065 (272F &1916M) No. of candidates to the RSC 4525 No of female candidates 1000 No of male candidates 5979 Total No of candidates 6979 Budget allocated in cash 227,000,000 Birr

29. NEBE activities after the 2010 election • Preparation of five-year Strategic Plan in accordance with the Government’s 5 years Growth and Transformation Plan; • Preparations for conducting electoral boundary determination e.g. study tour to South Africa, 7-24 Oct 2010, BRIDG training EBD, 13 – 17 Dec 2010, Adama, Ethiopia. • Periodic consultation forum with legal political parties • Post election performance assessment on: • Possible Electoral legislative amendment, Establishment of computerised voters (permanent) system, etc • Introduction of transparent ballot box Maintain sustainable civic and voters education; • Assess the performance of electoral officers, etc

30. Conclusion • Ethiopia embarked on an ambitious transition from a centralised undemocratic nation to a democratic state and established decentralised federal system of Government since 1991. Since then, the country held four general elections. • Female participation increased significantly during the whole course of the four general elections both as voters and as contending candidates and subsequently the number of seats in the HoPR increased from 13 to 152 registered in the last 4th round general election.

31. Thank you for you attention! • I would like to

32. References • The Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia • The Amended Electoral LawNo. 532/2007 of Ethiopia • Political Registration Law No. 573/2008of Ethiopia • Electoral Code of Conduct 662/2009 • WWW CSA.gov.et, Central Statistic Agency census report 2009 • Dessalegn Rahmato and Meheret Ayenew 2004: Democratic assistance to post-conflict Ethiopia: impact and limitations. Faculty of Business and Economics, Addis Ababa University.