Except for the 2005 elections, Ethiopians do not have a positive memory of a fair and free election from the previous five general elections held between 2000 and 2015.
From the time when the general election was postponed due to the global pandemic, COVID-19, the Tigrian People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has been insisting that the federal government stick to the original schedule and carry out the general election. The subsequent June decision by the joint Houses to postpone the polls prompted Tigray’s ruling party and State Council to unilaterally undertake regional elections.
The Ministry of Health of Ethiopia has recommended that the postponed general elections can be conducted given the public’s awareness in the means of transmission of the coronavirus pandemic as well as the capabilities created in the country to produce masks and hand sanitizers.
As summer winds down, another wave of COVID-19 infections looms. While cases remain under control in Cambodia, Denmark, Mauritius, and Morocco, they are on the rise in Ethiopia and parts of the United States.
Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE), a charity founded by Ethiopian American activist Tamagne Beyene is teaming up with World Vision to financially support more than 2000 people in the Lideta and Addis Ketema sub-cities worth USD 250,000 as part of the COVID-19 response.
As the whole world rushes to find a vaccine for the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of African nations have expressed their willingness to conduct a vaccine test in their homeland.