Ethiopia’s Election Board Chairperson to resign

In her letter of resignation, Birtukan Mideksa, the chair of Ethiopia's National Election Board (NEBE), stated that she needed "a long-term rest to maintain my health."

 

Birtukan made her resignation known via her Facebook page, stating that she had already told the House of People's Representatives (HoPR) Speaker's office on June 12 that "I have voluntarily resigned" as the Board's chairperson, effective August 7.

 

Birtukan said, "In my remaining time, I will be responsible for completing outstanding work and implementing administrative changes.

 

She was appointed as the Board's Chairperson after the national parliament approved the nomination of the former judge and head of an opposition party in November 2018.

 

“I dreamed of making our institution a reliable and independent institution capable of conducting elections,” Birtukan said, and hailed her works done through the Board since as attempts “to carry out the responsibilities given to me by conducting referendums and national elections, and managing political parties in accordance with the legality, fairness and sincerity.”

 

Birtukan expressed her “gratitude to all the board members who were with me, the Board staff, especially the hardworking women staff who made my daily work full of inspiration, and all those who made our work easier by sharing their experience as long-term employees of the board with new employees.”

 

She also complimented political parties, who she said, rather than viewing the board "as a manager and a supervisor, considered it a family that works together, even when we made decisions that did not please them."

 

Birtukan presided over the contentious 2021 presidential election as well as three referendums that resulted in the creation of new states in Southern Ethiopia while serving as the NEBE's chairwoman. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which had previously refused the NEBE's registration as a political party on the grounds that it was not authorized by the election legislation, and the NEBE had lately gotten into a disagreement under her leadership.