Ethiopia will hold federal and regional elections on 15 May 2005. Voters will on the same day elect representatives to the House of Peoples’ Representatives, eight Regional Councils and the City Administrations for Addis Ababa and Diredawa.

Approximately 30,000 polling stations nationwide will be open from 06.00 hours to 18.00 hours. Each polling station will process up to 1,500 voters.

The timetable and administration for both elections is the same, with one single ballot box for both types of ballot papers.

Elections in 23 national constituencies in the regional State of Somali will be held on 21 August 2005. This deferral is due to logistical reasons, as the people in this region are pastoralists and mobile registration units are needed to register voters. Because this requires intensive use of the Board’s resources, elections in this region cannot be held at the same time as the other regions.