Ethiopia: Voter, candidates registration ends
ADDIS ABABA, Feb 13, 2005 (ENA) — Registration of voters and contesting candidates across the nation was officially closed at 7 p.m. (local time) on 13 February 2005 with the exception in the Somali Regional State where the election would be held in August 2005, the office of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced.
Deputy Chief of NEBE Tesfaye Mengesha told ENA on Sunday that registration documents would be sealed in the presence of election executives, public observers and political parties’ representatives.
The respective polling stations should fill in the statistical data of the registration on appropriate form by 14 February 2005, he said, adding that the registration document would be open to public the next day as per the board’s schedule. Tesfaye said the board would receive and scrutinize any inconveniences to be reported by election executives, observers or representatives of political parties.
Scrutiny of competing candidates would be undertaken across the nation on 14 and 15 February 2005 at constituencies and woreda district electoral offices. As per the programme, candidates of political parties would bear candidature symbols selected by their respective political parties while independent candidates would choose symbols on 14 and 15 February 2005, he said.
Contesting candidates for seats in both the House of People’s Representatives and regional councils would receive candidature identification cards on 16 February 2005 at the respective woreda electoral offices, the official said. The candidates may begin their election campaign on 16 February 2005 in their respective constituencies, he indicated.
He also said special registration of voters would be carried out as per the decision of the board soon as fire accident was reported in various polling stations in Dilana-Dima Woreda of the South Ethiopia Peoples State — Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ State, in southern Ethiopia.
According to the chief, fire accident destroyed the registration file and voters identification cards in those polling stations. The necessary documents would be sent for special registration of voters in those areas, the official noted.
The number of voters registered to cast ballots in the upcoming national elections is estimated to reach 25 million, Tesfaye said. About 30 million voters were registered in the 1992 E.C. (Ethiopian Calendar, 2000) national elections.