Addis Abeba – The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has rejected once again the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)’s request to reinstate its former legal status, instead granting it a certificate of legal personality as a new political party under special conditions.
In a statement issued on Friday, 09 August 2024, NEBE said the decision has been made in accordance with the amended Party Registration and Ethics Reform bill approved in May 2024, which outlines provisions for granting legal recognition to political groups with a history of violent activities.
The board stated that there is no legal basis to reinstate TPLF’s previous legal status.
On 29 July 2024, Debretsion Gebremichael (PhD) chairman of the TPLF disputed the amended bill saying that the bill only allows outlawed political parties to re-register as legitimate organizations, and falls short of his party’s expectations which is the reinstatement of its pre-war legal status.
“…We will never register as a new party,” he told a regional outlet, adding that the party has reached a consensus with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and other federal high level officials including authorities from NEBE on its demands.
Yet, the party’s vice chairman and president of the Tigray Interim Regional Administration, Getachew Reda, who announced on Friday that he will not participate in the party’s upcoming congress, said the request submitted to the electoral board seeking reinstatement of the party’s legality and ongoing activities to organize a congress are all “illegal movements by a group that does not represent the TPLF”.
Earlier, on July 30 2024, Getachew Reda, issued a scathing indictment of the leadership of the TPLF, accusing them of widespread corruption, mismanagement, and jeopardizing the plans of the IA and regional security.
According to NEBE, the newly registered TPLF must now hold a general assembly within six months to approve its bylaws and leadership under the inspection of the election board which will also monitor the party’s activities to ensure adherence to peaceful conduct.
It was in January 2021 that the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) canceled TPLF’s legal registration as a political party citing the party’s engagement in “armed violence against the government”; it also prevented TPLF officials from operating on behalf of the party.
Despite the Pretoria peace deal that ended the two-year war and subsequent delisting on 22 March last year of the TPLF from terrorist designation, the electoral board maintained its position asserting that there is no legal basis to reverse the annulment.
In June, the House of People’s Representatives (HoPR) ratified the amended ‘Electoral, Political Parties Registration, and Electoral Ethics Proclamation’ in a move that enabled political groups outlawed due to their engagement in non-peaceful activities to regain legal status, provided they renounce violence and agree to operate peacefully. AS
