Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 18 (EI) – The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) on Monday said that more than 2.3 million voters have registered to vote on Sidama’s referendum for an autonomous region.
Birtukan Mideksa, NEBE Chairperson, told local and foreign media outlets on Monday that 2.3 million people have been registered to vote on a referendum that will decide Sidama Zone’s quest to become Ethiopia’s tenth regional state.
Birtukan also confirmed that the referendum will be held on Wednesday – November 20 – and the results are expected to be announced as early as Thursday.
Ethnic Sidama activists have been advocating for years to have their own region, separating Sidama zone from the Southern regional state which it is currently part of. Sidamas make up around 4 percent of Ethiopia’s estimated 105 million population.
The NEBE Chairperson also indicated that the electoral commission has deployed more 6,000 staff to administer 1,692 polling stations across the Sidama zone in a bid to ensure that the referendum proceeds smoothly without violence.
She further called on all sides to desist from advertising referendum related campaign signs within 200 meters of polling stations.
In July, deadly clashes between Sidama protestors and security forces across Sidama zone left dozens of people dead and displaced hundreds of people.
The Sidama protestors were impatient at the alleged reluctance of NEBE and the federal government to hold Sidama autonomy referendum.
In August, NEBE announced it would hold Sidama autonomy referendum in November 2019, in a bid to ease tensions.
Ethiopia currently has nine regional states, although over the last 18 months several ethnic groups in the country have been campaigning to create their own regional states, heightening fears of political instability in the country.
