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AFP
Addis Ababa
Ethiopian lawmakers on Wednesday approved a plan to keep Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in power beyond his current mandate, state media reported, after the coronavirus pandemic forced authorities to postpone elections planned for August.
The move by the House of Federation, the upper house of parliament, was sure to anger opposition leaders who have accused Abiy of using the pandemic to artificially extend his time in office, and analysts warned of possible protests and boycotts.
“The House of Federation has approved a decision to extend the term of all assemblies until international health institutions have deemed the threat from coronavirus to be over,” the Ethiopian News Agency reported.
The lawmakers did not specify when exactly elections should happen.
But their vote was an endorsement of recommendations submitted by the Council of Constitutional Inquiry, an advisory body that called for “elections to be held nine to 12 months after the coronavirus is deemed not to be a public health concern”.
Dawud Ibsa, chairman of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front, told AFP Wednesday that the House of Federation vote “does not have any constitutional basis”.
Addis Ababa
Ethiopian lawmakers on Wednesday approved a plan to keep Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in power beyond his current mandate, state media reported, after the coronavirus pandemic forced authorities to postpone elections planned for August.
The move by the House of Federation, the upper house of parliament, was sure to anger opposition leaders who have accused Abiy of using the pandemic to artificially extend his time in office, and analysts warned of possible protests and boycotts.
“The House of Federation has approved a decision to extend the term of all assemblies until international health institutions have deemed the threat from coronavirus to be over,” the Ethiopian News Agency reported.
The lawmakers did not specify when exactly elections should happen.
But their vote was an endorsement of recommendations submitted by the Council of Constitutional Inquiry, an advisory body that called for “elections to be held nine to 12 months after the coronavirus is deemed not to be a public health concern”.
Dawud Ibsa, chairman of the opposition Oromo Liberation Front, told AFP Wednesday that the House of Federation vote “does not have any constitutional basis”.
