Oromo: Ethiopia Releases Provisional Results of Regional Elections
Ethiopias National Electoral Board has announced the provisional results of the election for state councils
Ethiopia’s National Electoral Board has announced the
provisional results of the election for state councils. The board says it has
responses from more than 17 hundred polling places. It says they show that the
ruling party and its allies have a majority of seats in most states. They include
Oromia, Tigray, Amhara, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples
State. The board says the opposition has won all but three seats on the 138-seat
Addis Ababa city council.
Some press reports say the results were released after the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling forbidding the release of provisional results.
Amare Aregawi is the editor-in-chief of “The Reporter”
newspaper in Addis Ababa. He told English to Africa reporter William Eagle that
rather than overturning a lower court ruling – the Supreme Court has merely
suspended it. He says the final ruling will come next Tuesday. In the meantime,
however, he says it is legal for the Electoral Board to publish the provisional
results. Official results are expected to be released on July 8th.
Source: Voice of America
