EU Scraps Plan to Send Ethiopia Election Observers

 

The European Union says it has cancelled plans to send its observer mission for Ethiopia’s June elections citing “lack of agreement on key parameters”.

The High Representative Josep Borrell said standard requirements like the mission’s independence and importation of communication system for their security had been denied.

“It is disappointing that the EU has not received the assurances necessary to extend to the Ethiopian people one of its most visible signs of support for their quest for democracy,” he wrote in a statement shared online:

The EU urged the Ethiopian government to carry out free and fair elections.

It said it had supported the electoral board with €20m ($24m; £17m).

Ethiopia is set to hold elections on 5 June. The polls were delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The country’s Tigray region went on to hold elections ignoring the directives from the federal government.

The region has had fighting between federal and regional troops that has forced many residents to flee.