ADDIS ABABA: Aug. 24 (EI) – Members of the Ethiopian House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) on Saturday ratified the draft proclamation on Ethiopian electoral and political parties.
The endorsed electoral and political parties’ bill would govern the activities of political parties during election.
The draft proclamation presented to the Ethiopian parliament’s lower house also stated that the new bill will help Ethiopia to conduct a peaceful, fair, reliable and democratic election. It is expected to help strengthen political parties to emerge in the country.
According to the approved law, a national political party shall be formed if it can secure the signatures of at least 10,000 persons, while a regional political party is required to obtain a minimum of 5,000 signatures.
Members of the Ethiopian parliament endorsed the new proclamation on Ethiopian electoral and political parties in an emergency meeting as the HoPR presently on a recess.
The new bill, among other things, stated manners of political parties that can merge, form an alliance and build coalitions and how the process should be regulated.
The move to introduce a new law on Ethiopian electoral and political parties has been a center of discussions among various political parties since it appeared before the parliament on two months for the first hearing.
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has been also conducting several meetings with political parties concerning the substances of the bill.