FDRE House of Representatives Standing Committee on Planning, Budget and Finance has urged the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) next budget to be considered in light of the national situation.

Today there was a discussion on the 2022/23 budget of The National Electoral Board (NEB). It is recommended that the institute formulate a budget that takes into account the current national situation.

The Chairperson of the Standing Committee, honorable Desalegn Wodeje, said the budget should be national in nature and cost effective.

He said the Standing Committee will make a decision based on the previous year to identify the mandatory ones in terms of regular and program budget preparation.

He said one of the manifestations of democracy is the election and the budget approved to the Board should be able to maintain its independence and remain strong and free. After reviewing the proposed budget, the committee will make adjustments if necessary. He said the Standing Committee will send a resolution on the budget title and amount to the Ministry of Finance.

Conferring Deputy Chairperson of the National Electoral Board, Woubshet Ayele, and other officials of the Board, to conduct local elections following the general election and in areas where the sixth round was not held for various reasons are the activities of the next budget year. Based on the challenges encountered during the last election; He said that institutional building and modernization of data management and utilization are among the major activities planned for the next budget year.

Apart from the Kebele councils, he said, there are plans to hold local elections in 75 national zones, 847 Woredas, 172 towns, 11 sub-cities and one ethnic council. He predicted that the election would be held by organizing 56, 373 polling stations and 44.4 million voters would take part in the election.

As a result, the Board needs a total budget of 6,940,713,563 (six billion nine hundred and forty million seven hundred and thirteen thousand five hundred and sixty-three birr) to carry out the work planned for the next year independently and self-reliantly. Of these, 918,466,200 (nine hundred and eighteen million four hundred and sixty six thousand two hundred birr) are estimated to come from partner organizations.

He said the government will cover 6,022,247,363 (six billion, twenty-two million, two hundred and forty-seven thousand three hundred and sixty-three birr), including five percent of the total budget.

Translated by Yared Eshetu