Ethiopian voters begin to register for elections in May

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 9, 2004 (ENA) — The National Electoral Board announced that the registration of voters begun here on Sunday across the country with the exception of Somali Regional State in eastern Ethiopia.

The board’s deputy head, Tesfaye Mengesha, told ENA on Sunday that most of the polling stations in which election executives were assigned began registering voters.

The board has also ordered those polling stations which do not have adequate numbers of observers presently to start the registration of voters using the existing observers, Tesfaye said.

Scrutinizing candidature endorsement signatures has also been launched in some areas, he said. Verification of candidature endorsement signature of both independent and political parties is being undertaken where polling stations are opened, Tesfaye said. There are 34 polling stations across the country.