CECOE Commentary: Quality of the Recruitment and Training of Election Officer by the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) during the Sixth General Election

Ethiopia held its Sixth General Elections on June 21 and September 30, 2021, respectively, in which citizens voted for their representatives for the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) and Regional Councils for a period of five years. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is responsible for organizing elections in Ethiopia, and one of its mandates is to establish the necessary structures, such as constituencies, polling stations, and regional branch offices to facilitate the electoral process. These structures are critical for executing various electoral activities, including voter and candidate registration, election day procedures, and post-election procedures, among others.

To fulfill its statutory duty of organizing the Sixth General Elections of Ethiopia in 2021, the NEBE recruited over 150,000 election officers who were trained and deployed in each of the structures established under the electoral law. However, the Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations for Elections (CECOE) observed gaps in the technical, professional, and ethical capacity of election officials required by law to carry out the election activities. The deficiencies in their capacity led to the NEBE annulling the results in some polling stations and constituencies, among other reasons