Birtukan Dismisses TPLF’s Decision to hold Election in August

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia’s Chairperson Birtukan Mideksa dismisses TPLF’s decision to hold an election in August in an interview she gave to ETV in the early afternoon news.

Following TPLF’s decision to conduct the general election at the regional level in Tigray state by August, in complete disregard to the decision passed by the National Electoral Board (NEBE), Birtukan Mideksa has given a statement regarding the issue. In the interview she gave to ETV this afternoon, she noted that the election board did not receive any formal notice regarding TPLF’s decision to hold the election and that it is unclear whether the party will definitely hold the election.

However, in light of TPLF’s pronouncement on moving forward with the announcement they made, their decision will be regarded as unlawful and against the constitution, she sufficed.

Based on the constitution of Ethiopia Article 102 to be specific, the NEBE is the only institution mandated to organize and hold elections in the country, according to Birtukan. She also noted that under certain circumstances regions may hold elections separately but in order to do that they have to make the request to hold such elections to the Board which is mandated by Article 1162 of the Ethiopian Electoral Law. She emphasized the point that if the region decides to move along with the election, then it’ll be out of the board’s hands and hopes that situations don’t head that way.

Meanwhile, in a recent interview Ato Getachew Reda a political bureau member of the TPLF, told Addis Fortune newspaper, a potential constitutional solution would be to dissolve the parliament and hold elections in the coming six months, and that Tigray has an inalienable right to self-governance and it’s not going to be sacrificed on the altar of bureaucratic expediency. He also added that they would like to see another political arrangement that would oversee this. To get the point of view of TPLF on the matter Addis Zeybe tried to get in touch with  Getachew Reda and Liya Kassa who is the spokeswoman for the regional administration of Tigray region but she was unreachable to give an answer.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia was making preparations to hold the general election at the end of August this year. In the interim, the Board was forced to suspend following the outbreak of the global pandemic coronavirus.