Eve of Election Interview with Kemal Bedri,
Chairman of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia

14 May 2005

Ato Kemal has been Chairman of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) since November 1993. He is also the President of the Federal Supreme Court, a position he has held for 13 years. The NEBE Press Unit talked to Ato Kemal Bedri on issues related to today’s elections. Excerpts:

The NEBE is administering elections in the country for the third time now since the new constitutional order was put in place in 1995. What makes this year’s elections different from previous ones?

Well, this year we have witnessed heated campaigning by all contending parties. The campaigning particularly in the public media was carried out for quite a long time and in an organized manner, as opposed to the fragmented nature of media campaigns in previous elections. Consequently, the public has become more informed about the benefits of participating in the elections, which, in turn, resulted in the registration of 25.6 million voters, a record high in the history of elections in the country.

The fact that opposition parties have formed coalitions has also made this year’s election more contested than the previous ones. The amendment of the electoral law this year, especially the repealing of the provision requiring parties’ candidates to canvass endorsement signatures and the reduction of the two years residency requirement for voters to six months has also contributed to the registration of both more candidates and more voters in each constituency.

Can you outline the preparations the NEBE has made to administer these elections in a free, fair and efficient manner?

The office of the Board has recruited and trained more than 150,000 polling station and constituency election officers who will be working at 31,000 polling stations throughout the country. The training covered issues related to the registration of electors and candidates and the voting process, as well as tabulation and announcement of results. The Board has also prepared a code of conduct for election officers which will help them discharge their responsibilities in a fair and efficient manner.

Moreover, the Board has established a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) center that provides election observers and other authorities with detailed information about the location of constituencies and polling stations as well as the number of voters and candidates in each constituency. Besides, with the support of Electoral Reform International Services (ERIS), various manuals and publications have been prepared and distributed to election officials. The office of the Board has also been engaged in voter education activities by using radio, television and publications. Some 24 civic organizations have also been accredited to provide voter education throughout the country.

The establishment of joint political parties’ forums chaired by the NEBE is also a major accomplishment in this year’s elections. The forums, formed from national to polling station level, have served as ideal institutions to discuss issues and complaints forwarded by contending parties and settle problems in a peaceful and civilized manner. A campaigning code of conduct has also been approved by the national forum, and has helped in the smooth conduct of campaigning activities.

But some opposition parties allege that the Board lacks the necessary human resources and institutional facilities to run elections in the country. How would you describe the NEBE’s capacity to administer the elections?

The Secretariat of the Board has 170 permanent staff and 150 election officers working during election time. The NEBE has its own printing press, which puts it among the few electoral institutions in Africa with such capacity. The Board has been conducting elections for the last 12 years and its staff have been getting experience from successive elections. In an attempt to make its activities more transparent, the NEBE has recently established a Press and Public Information Unit. Through this unit the NEBE has been able to provide journalists, observers and the international community as well as political parties and the public information about the activities of the Board and its Secretariat.

I myself have been to many African countries as an election observer and visitor and had the opportunity to see how the electoral bodies in these countries operate. I can assure you that we are in a better position than many countries in Africa. We are also receiving encouraging remarks about our performance from the international community. So far, the NEBE has successfully accomplished each stage of the election process in accordance with its schedule.

Some members of the opposition doubt the neutrality of the Board saying that it shows partisanship towards the ruling party. How do you prove that you are independent?

Well, the independence of an institution should be measured by two indicators: its structural organization and the decisions given by its members. Structurally, the National Electoral Board has been established by the constitution independent of the executive. The seven members of the Board are appointed by the parliament based on the constitutional provisions which require them to be non-partisan, professional and drawn from cross-section of society.

The fact that Board members are appointed by the parliament in which the ruling party has an overwhelming majority does not mean that its activities are influenced by the ruling party. The Board members are elected in the same way judges are appointed. And the judiciary, as we have seen in our cases, is acting independently. Therefore, the independence of the Board should be measured by what it does, which has been fair. The NEBE has been, and will remain, an impartial organ that serves all parties fairly.

How is the NEBE responding to complaints submitted to it by contending parties?
We are dealing with the complaints in two ways. Mostly, we make our election officers in each constituency investigate the cases by meeting local authorities and opposition parties as well as by gathering relevant evidence. When we have serious matters, we dispatch an investigating team from NEBE headquarters to areas where the problem is said to have occurred. We recently presented to the political parties’ forum the findings of the complaints investigated by the above two ways. We are, therefore, responding to complaints put forth by the opposition and the ruling party in a fair manner.

How has the Board worked with the international election observers?
We have indeed a very good relationship with all the international election observation missions. We are providing them with all the information they need for their observation missions. We organized various briefing sessions to familiarize the observers with the legal frameworks electoral systems and operations in Ethiopia. The recent visit to the NEBE of former US President and founder of the Carter Center, Jimmy Carter and his remarks about the Board is a testimony of our smooth relations with the observers. This is the first time we have had such a large number of observers from different institutions and countries and we have been happy to co-operate with them.

The NEBE has recently been involved in a legal dispute with domestic NGOs regarding the rules for their accreditation as election observers. Would you please tell us the cause of this dispute and the outcome?

The Board issued a directive for local organizations that are interested in monitoring the elections. The directive required the NGOs to be impartial and have election observation as one of their objectives in their statutes. The Board issued this directive with a view to enabling those organizations that are working on election related activities to observe the elections and thus produce a genuine and unbiased report about the election process.

However, this was challenged by a coalition of NGOs and the federal High Court and Supreme Court ruled that the NGOs have the right to observe the elections. As per the decisions of the courts, we have given accreditation to all NGOs and civic organizations that had applied to monitor the elections.

What are the challenges, if any, you have faced so far in the current elections?
We really have not faced any major challenge in this year’s election process. We carried out each activity in accordance with the timetable we had issued earlier. This, however, does not mean that we never had any problems. In some areas, we had to re-register voters as we found out that the voter registration process was not conducted in accordance with the law. We also had to remove some election officers and bring them before the courts for their partisan acts, which were contrary to the electoral law.

You issued a campaigning code of conduct for contesting parties. What is your overall assessment of the campaigning practices by the parties over the last four months?

It was really a very lively and hard-fought campaign. We believe that people have benefited a lot, especially from the debates among parties transmitted live on public radio and television. Of course, at times it was bitter, but we still need some time to assess the full impact of this campaign. I also hope that there is a lesson that we will draw and improve for the time to come. I will reserve further comments on this issue until the elections are over.

When should we expect results at polling station, constituency and national levels?
Results at poling stations will be posted in each polling station by Monday, 16 May. Then the results of each polling station have to be submitted to the respective constituency election offices. The constituency election offices should send the results to the NEBE Secretariat starting from the 16 May. The Secretariat then will add up the results of the votes cast by students of higher learning institutions in the country and post provisional results at the premises of the NEBE Secretariat by 21 May. The official announcement by the Board of results at national level will be on 8 June, based on the Board’s timetable issued earlier. Provisional results will also be posted on the website.

Are there any messages you would like to convey to the people of Ethiopia and all contending parties at this particular point in time?
I would like to call upon all Ethiopians to actively participate on today’s elections as they did during the registration period. We expect polling to be completed peacefully and urge all Ethiopians to contribute their share towards that end. I would also like to call upon all contending parties to honorably accept the decisions of the people. They have also a great responsibility in the peaceful and successful completion of the election process. I would also like to seize this opportunity to thank all our domestic and international partners for their support so far and hope this will continue in the future.