Ethiopia to hold parliamentary elections on August 29

Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections will be held on August 29, 2020, the country's election body announced on Friday.

The August 29 election date is two weeks later than the electoral board had previously indicated. The agency did not immediately give a reason for the delay.

"Looking at parts of the country which will be affected by the rainy season, pushing the schedule a little further will ease our burden," NEBE Chairwoman Birtukan Mideksa said at a conference on election preparations taking place in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Representatives of political groups, as well as civil society had opposed the earlier date August 16,2020. They argued that since mid-August is the peak of the rainy season in most parts of Ethiopia, the rains will impact the voter turnout

According to the new schedule the election results will be expected from August 30 to September 8,2020.

In January Birtukan announced the postponement of May parliament and regional council elections as neither the authorities nor parties would be ready

Ethiopia’s 109 million people are experiencing unprecedented political and economic change, but Abiy’s reforms have also unleashed ethnic rivalries that have spilled into violence.

Ethiopia has had regular parliamentary elections since the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took power in 1991 but, with one exception, none were competitive.

Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year largely for his efforts at reconciliation with Ethiopia's neighbour and longtime foe Eritrea, has promised that this year's vote will be free and fair.