Coronavirus: Ethiopia postpones general elections sine die

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Ethiopia was to hold a crucial general election in August 2020. But faced with the logistical and health constraints of the pandemic, the Ethiopian National Electoral Office (Nebe) had to face the facts. It is the first African country to postpone its elections because of the coronavirus.

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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Sébastien Nemeth

Already delayed once for organizational reasons, the Ethiopian election is postponed again, this time sine die. The Nebe promises a new date when the threat of the coronavirus disappears: as much to say that we know nothing for the moment.

The next few months were shaping up to be crucial in the run-up to the election. Voter registration was to begin, followed by the recruitment and training of 150,000 election workers and the distribution of materials. So many dangerous procedures in the context of a pandemic.

Opposition to the tuning fork

While the Election Office was apparently already several weeks behind schedule, the health hazard to its employees, added to restrictions imposed by the government, got the better of the schedule. For the past few days, most of the agents of the Nebe had been teleworking. The international partners had sent their employees home, disrupting the technical and financial support of the institution.

The opposition did not contest. " Our current priority is to overcome the epidemic, " said Yesuf Ebrahim, of the Nama party. Oromo activist Jawar Mohamed however asked that the opposition be consulted for the next steps. " The government must not take a unilateral decision ," he said.

► Read also: Coronavirus: Igad member countries set up a prevention fund

These elections are eagerly awaited. They constitute a democratic test as the country tries to turn the page on a repressive regime. It is also a popularity test for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

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• Ethiopia
• Abiy ahmed
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine

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