On 6 September 2021, Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations for Election – CECOE gave training of trainers to its lead trainers who will train election observers. The observers will observe the upcoming elections slated to be held in SNNPR, Somali and Harari regional states on 30 September 2021. The lead trainers have been trained on how to train short term observers to observe and report the election day process.
Checklists and critical incidents form are developed to enable the trainers and observers to capture raw data about the elections process in a systematic manner. On election day, the collected data will be sent to the Addis Ababa data center via text message for further analysis and data cleaning. Once the analysis and data cleaning processes are completed, CECOE will announce its observation findings to key stakeholders: National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), Media and Partners.
In the coming few weeks, the lead trainers will be travelling to each training location in the Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region SNNPR, Harari and Somali regional states to provide trainings to observers.
It is to be recalled that in the first rounds of elections polling did not take place in some constituencies. Elections did not take place in Somali and Harari regions while parts of Oromia, Amhara, and SNNP regions were also left with the same fate. The South West referendum was also postponed.
Background
The Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations for Elections(CECOE) is a collaboration of networks of Civil Society Organizations with focus on electoral support in Ethiopia through promoting citizens’ participation and free elections. Driven by its desire to serve in the prevention, mitigation and management of election-related conflicts and potential violence in the run up to, and following the coming elections, CECOE works in all regions and city administrations to enhance the institutional capacity that enables member organizations to engage in voters and civic education and election observations.
