The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) on Tuesday released official results for 128 more federal parliament seats, bringing the total number of official results of the parliament election announced so far to 435.

Eighty-eight of the 128 results declared official are those on which complaint investigation panels (CIPs) had recommended upholding of provisional results and the remaining 40 are the ones rejected by the complaints review body (CRB) after a hearing, NEBE Chairman Kemal Bedri told local and foreign journalists.

The electoral board endorsed the recommendations made by the CRB and the CIPs except for Adama 2 constituency in East Shoa zone of the Oromia State where it decided to uphold the provisional result.

Out of the 435 official results that have been declared for the House of People's Representatives, the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has won 241 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 108 seats and 51 seats respectively, Kemal said.

Following the recommendations of the CIPs, NEBE has ordered that re-run elections be held in 15 constituencies, where, according to Kemal, voting will take place on the same day as the elections in the Somali State on August 21.

Kemal said the official results for the remaining 74 constituencies where elections took place on May 15 would be announced upon completion of the CIP process in those constituencies, including 37 constituencies where NEBE has ordered investigations following the recommendation of the CRB.

While envisaging finishing these investigations within 14 days now, the board aired possibility that further re-run elections may be ordered. Official results for regional councils would also be announced in the next announcement, it said.

A party or coalition has to win a majority of votes (at least 274 seats) to form the next government at the federal level.

Ethiopians went to poll on May 15 in the country's two separate elections to elect representatives to the House of People's Representatives and eight regional councils. Elections for the 23 constituencies of the Somali regional state will take place on August 21.

Source: Xinhua