Video PlayerClose

ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has tentatively set June 5, 2021, as the date for national polls, local media reported on Friday.

Ethiopia will hold a parliamentary election on June 5, 2021, and the results will be announced between June 6-28, 2021, reported the state-owned media outlet Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation (EBC).

The EBC further reported that the NEBE has tentatively set the date for voters registration to be between March 1 to March 30. The dates for poll candidates list announcements are March 31 and April 1.

NEBE has set the date for political parties to present their electoral signs and a decision to be made on the electoral signs to be between January 30 to February 13.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia was initially slated to hold national polls on August 29, 2020.

However, the Ethiopia House of Federation (HOF), the country's upper house of parliament approved a recommendation in June 2020 to postpone the national elections citing the health threat posed by the COVID-19.

Ethiopia has as of Friday morning recorded 121,399 COVID-19 cases and 1,882 COVID-19 related deaths.

Ethiopia holds regular parliamentary and regional council elections every five-year with the 2015 polls completely won by the ruling coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allied parties.

The 2021 polls, will be keenly observed by local and foreign observers, with the newly rebranded ruling party, now called Prosperity Party (PP), expected to face a stiff electoral challenge from opposition parties. Enditem