Ethiopia releases partial official election results

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced Friday partial official results for 307 federal seats out of the 524 constituencies where elections were carried out on May 15.

NEBE Chairman Kemal Bedri told journalists that out of the 307 official results, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has secured 139 seats.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Front (UEDF), the country's two main opposition groups, were in second and third places with 93 and 42 seats respectively, Kemal said.

The parties contested for 110 seats in the upper House of the Federation and 547 seats in the lower House of People's Representatives.

NEBE will announce official results for the remaining 217 constituencies in the coming weeks. Elections for the 23 constituencies of the Somali regional state will take place on August 21.

The partial official results did not indicate the winner that would be able to form the next government, he stressed.

The results were released in the presence of representatives of political parties, international observers and the media at the NEBE headquarters.

NEBE is responsible for the administration, conduct and supervision of all elections in Ethiopia's federal and state constituencies.

The 307 results include the constituencies which are not contested by any party, and those where the complaints lodged have been rejected by the electoral board after a hearing.

Both opposition parties and the ruling party lodged complaints for irregularities in the election. The allegations brought about a violent protest last month in capital Addis Ababa, killing at least 26 people.

Kemal said that NEBE's 26 complaints investigation panels (CIPs) deployed to 140 disputed constituencies in the country are expected to complete their work this coming week.

"The board will give final decisions based on the recommendations made by the CIPs when their work is completed," he said.

"The decisions will include upholding provisional results or ordering re-runs in some or all of the polling stations of a constituency."

Kemal also said NEBE's complaints review body (CRB) is expected to give its recommendation on the 64 constituencies it has been conducting hearings.

"If there are any constituencies to be re-considered for investigation, they will be probed by other teams together with the 14 constituencies decided to be investigated earlier," he said.

Source: Xinhua