Ethiopian election body declines to extend candidates’ registration deadline

ADDIS ABABA, Jan 25, 2005 (ENA) — The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) rejected the request by some political parties asking it to extend the candidate registration period.

The board ruled out the request as unacceptable.

The board told ENA on Tuesday that it has already extended an earlier schedule of candidate registration for a month starting from 6 January to 5 February 2005 as per the request of the political parities.

Hence, the board said, the request made by some political parties for extension of the registration period of the competing candidates for the second time is unnecessary.

The board also urged those accredited regional and national political parties to ensure registration of the respective candidates until 5 February 2005, which it said is an ample time to do so.