Lawmakers in their 3rd special meeting approved constitutional interpretation resolution among the four options – dissolution of the House; constitutional interpretation; declaring State of Emergency; and constitutional amendment – presented to the House by the National Election Board of Ethiopia, with majority voting in favor, and 25 voting against it. The house also referred the constitutional interpretation resolution to the House of Federation.
As it can be remembered, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia postponed general election scheduled to be held on August 2020 due to the pandemic. It was in its 15th regular meeting that the House referred the motion to the House’s Legal, Justice and Democracy Standing Committee to come up with a resolution with a constitutional background. Following this, the Standing Committee forwarded the constitutional interpretation as the best solution for the House.
On the meeting, Acting Chairperson of the Standing Committee, Abebe Godebo, presented the finding of the committee to the House. “The committee decided to take on the constitutional interpretation option on the three articles of the constitution – article 54(1), article 58(3), and article 93 – as the most viable one.
He said that art 54(1) stipulates that members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives shall be elected by the people for a term of five years; and art 58(3) also stipulates that members of the House shall be elected for a term of five years and elections for a new House shall be concluded one month prior to the expiry of the House’s term. “However, these articles assume regular and normal conditions.”
And also, art 93 of the constitution does not provide a clear answer to what happens to both Houses and the Executive body when their tenure expires and it is not possible to hold election due to State of Emergency, it is safe to say that it has a gap in solving the problem at hand, according to him.
During the meeting, heated discussion was held between the MPs. They also forwarded questions comments for further elaboration.
Gebregziabher Araya, Member of the Parliament, stated that the Standing Committee violated rules of procedures and members’ code of conduct regulation by sidestepping the participation of stakeholders and opposing political parties and solely dealing with the case. “And also, the committee’s resolution is a hasty decision,” he said.
He also noted that there is no any unclear article in the constitution about election.
On his part, Dr. Addisalem Balema, Member of the Parliament, said that constitutional interpretation request on the constitution can only be made when there is an ambiguous provision for interpretation.
“Political solution is the best option because the Standing Committee’s resolution stands against the constitution,” he indicated.
MPs also explained the relevance of the Committee’s resolution on constitutional interpretation of three articles.
After point out the contradiction of political solution to the constitution, Abebe said that the constitutional interpretation resolution is an alternative solution and it never stands against the constitution and has support of other decrees from the constitution itself.
Art 83 (1) stipulates that all constitutional disputes shall be decided by the House of the Federation. And art 83 (2) decrees that the House of the Federation shall, within thirty days of receipt, decide a constitutional dispute submitted to it by the Council of Constitutional Inquiry.
The Ethiopian Herald May 15/2020
BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
