Ethiopia Temporarily Postpones August General Election Due to COVID-19 Spread

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim On-yu] Ethiopia has decided to postpone the general election scheduled for the end of August due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Bloomberg News reported on the 1st (local time). This is the first case in Africa where a general election has been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation.

The Ethiopian National Election Board explained, "We cannot hold the election on time due to delays in the transportation of voting equipment and the burden of having to work while avoiding the coronavirus." The new election schedule will be announced after the COVID-19 situation is resolved.

This general election was regarded as a process to evaluate Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, who came to power two years ago after years of anti-government protests. The 43-year-old Prime Minister Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for swiftly implementing extensive economic reforms and ending the conflict with neighboring Eritrea. However, it is also true that his reforms caused resistance and ethnic conflicts.

William Davies of the think tank International Crisis Group (ICG) expressed concern over the election postponement but said, "The ruling party should take this opportunity to strengthen democracy by initiating discussions with the opposition to create conditions for a fair election." Past elections in Ethiopia were marred by fraud and intimidation. The opposition did not oppose the postponement of this election, citing the priority of responding to COVID-19, but stated that the opposition must be included in future procedural discussions.

The current number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ethiopia is 26. Ethiopian Airlines Group has reduced 87 routes due to COVID-19 but has not suspended all international routes like Kenya Airways or South African Airways. Because of this, on March 31, 66 Koreans including expatriates were able to safely return home from Madagascar and Cameroon using Ethiopian Airlines charter and regular flights.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.