Ethiopia: Local and City Administration Elections in Ethiopia

regional states and the city administrations of Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa on Sunday (April 14th). Polling booths opened at 6am local time under the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia's timetable.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said in total the different political parties had fielded a total of more than 3.8 million candidates for the elections, and voters in the Afar, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, Gambella, Harari, Oromia, Somali, and South Ethiopia Peoples' and Tigray Regional States voted freely. Over thirty million people were expected to cast their votes in voting for the voting for woreda, kebele and city administrations (including those in Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa) and in the subsequent vote for Addis Ababa woreda councils and for the Southern Nation, Nationalities and Peoples Kebele councils on April 21s.

The Chairperson of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia, Professor Merga Bekana, said more than 90 per cent of the eligible electorate had cast their ballots by the time the polls closed at 6:00 pm on April 14th. The election, he said, had been conducted in a fair, peaceful and democratic manner and he commended the efforts of the public, political parties, employees of the board, the media and election observers for the successful operation.

The results will begin to be posted locally later today, but the final overall results will be announced by the National Electoral Board at national level on May 10th. According to the NEBE, the largest number of candidates was fielded by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front which put up some 3.7 million candidates. Among other parties fielding candidates were the Ethiopian Peaceful Democratic Party (EPDP) (183 candidates) and the All Ethiopia National Movement (AENM) (85 candidates).

Opposition political parties including candidates from the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the Ethiopian Visionary Party (EVP) (which put up 42 candidates and observers in Addis Ababa) expressed satisfaction over the process, describing it as "fair, peaceful and democratic", with the electorate casting their ballot for political parties of their choice without anybody trying to exert and undue influence. The elections were observed by civil society organizations and other public organizations as well as observers from various political parties who were deployed to different parts of the country to observe the process.http://allafrica.com/stories/201304160630.html