Ethiopia’s House of People’s Representatives (parliament) in its urgent session on Saturday approved the revised Electoral and Political Parties draft bill.
The parliament approved the bill tabled to it by its the Legal, Justice and Administration Affairs Standing Committee.
According to the Committee, amendments were made on 149 articles of the draft bill, including on the rights of government employees who run for elections.
Any government employee running for elections should temporarily resign from his job starting from his registration as a candidate until the completion of the election.
In the event of temporary resignation of a candidate from his job, he shall not get any salary or benefits, nor is he allowed to use any property of the government office in which he is employed, until the end of the elections.
A government employee who run as a candidate and did not win has the right to return to his job without any preconditions and to get promotion and benefits on the basis of his performance.
Regarding formation of political party, a political party shall be formed as a nation-wide party where it has at least 10,000 founding members
A political party shall be formed as a regional political party where it has 3,000 founding members.
MG/as/APA