The Ethiopian parliament on Wednesday approved a resolution providing for the postponement by another year of elections of council members for the capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa.
Election of members of the Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa city councils was supposed to take place last year.
However, it was postponed to this year due to security concerns.
The resolution tabled by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) suggested the elections should take place together with the upcoming general elections planned for May 2020.
Lack of sufficient time was named as the main reason for the postponement of the elections.
Works carried out to reorganize the board, prepare draft bills, and recruit members of NEBE took more time, its chairperson Birtukan Midekissa stated.
According to the resolution passed by the parliament, the current councils of both cities will continue until the upcoming general elections are held.
In its urgent session, the national parliament also approved a bill allowing Ethiopian diaspora invest in the financial sector.
The parliament also approved bills to amend customs and land expropriation and provision of land based on actual price for people whose houses to be removed for public use.
MG/abj/APA