BY ABDUREZAK MOHAMMED
The Ethiopian constitution has always been caught on controversies leading to continued and fierce debates. And last year, the supreme law of the land was put at the helm of scrutiny once again when the 6th general election was postponed.
And, as the election is set to take place this year, questions remaining are how did Ethiopia handled the constitutional gap and what were the lessons drawn.
Article 54(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia stipulates that members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives shall be elected by the people for a term of five years; and article 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 carried out one month prior to the expiry of the House’s term. However, these articles assume regular and normal conditions.
Given 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 worth nothing and addressing.
Last year, the postponement of the sixth general national election, which was scheduled for August 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and the state of emergency that followed the outbreak, had sparked controversies among politicians.
On April 30, 2020 the House of People Representatives, in its 15th regular meeting, approved the recommendation of National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and referred a motion to the House’s Legal, Justice and Democracy Affairs Standing Committee to come up with a resolution with a constitutional background.
On May O5, 2020, Members of the House, 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.
On the same day, the House approved the proposal to provide a constitutional interpretation on three articles – article 54(1), article 58(3), and article 93 – of the Constitution in relation to the postponement of the 2020 election due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Finally, the House of Federation (HoF) passed resolutions that enabled the continuation of federal and regional legislative and administrative bodies until post-COVID-19 power succession takes place through election.
The process involved various Ethiopian legal experts living here and abroad. At that time, the number of parliamentarians, politicians, legal experts, and other scholars who opposed the interpretation of the three articles of the Constitution were not small. Complainers of the constitutional interpretation were saying that the interpretation was unconstitutional.
According to the proclamation no. 798/2013 enacted to strengthen and specify the powers and duties of the Council of Constitutional Inquiry of the FDRE, the Council of Constitutional Inquiry shall consider the matter when the unconstitutionality of any law or customary practice or decision of government organ or decision of government official is submitted in writing to the Council.
The proclamation also stipulates that the issue of constitutional interpretation to be submitted to the Council shall: if it is justiciable matter of court, when it has been brought to, and heard by, the court having jurisdiction; if it is justiciable matter of administrative organ, when a final decision has been rendered by the competent executive organ with due hierarchy to consider it; constitutional interpretation on any non-justiciable matter may be submitted to the Council by one-third or more members of the federal or state councils or by federal or state executive organs.
The House and National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) were preparing for the sixth general national election when the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was reported to have entered our country, said Abebe Godebo, member of Legal, Justice and Democracy Affairs Standing Committee of the House of Peoples’ Representatives. Adding that, the deadly pandemic had forced the NEBE and the nation to postpone the election for unspecified time.
He noted, “The Board presented a list of reasons to the House why the election could take place.” He also stated that the House referred Board’s decision to the Legal, Justice and Democracy Affairs Standing Committee to come up with a resolution with constitutional background.
Recognizing that there were no conducive conditions for holding elections in the country because of the pandemic, we had sent the House’s resolution that proposed constitutional interpretation on three articles of the FDRE Constitution to the Council of Constitutional Inquiry in accordance with the article 3 of the aforementioned proclamation no. 798/2013 to make the postponement of the election constitutional, he further reported.
As to him, this is for the first time that our country has faced such like situation in connection with constitutional issues after the current constitution come into effect.
He further stated, “As we understood when we assessing documents, at the time of the adoption of the constitution there were widespread debates regarding the postponement of national elections when the country faces an impossibility to hold election because of natural and man-made problems.”
According to him, the situation taught the nation a good lesson and it will be used as an input when the constitution is amended.
Although the constitution stipulates the parliamentary election must be held every five year, it does not explain what should be done when the country faces an impossibility to conduct election, said Amdegebriel Admassu, senior legal expert.
As we have heard repeatedly in various media, many countries in the world postponed election due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as to him. The reason for the controversy in Ethiopia over the constitutional interpretation and postponement of the election was because such a thing has never happened in the history of our country, he added.
There were two options to postpone the elections at that time: constitutional interpretation and/or amendment of the constitution, he said adding, by its nature, amendment of constitution has long procedures and it takes time. “Because of this the constitutional interpretation was the best option considering the situation our country was in at that time.”
He also indicated that the constitutional interpretation process involved a number of legal experts and all stakeholders. Various documents related to the issue and experiences of other countries were assessed, he added.
As to him, the situation helped the nation to understand the importance of forecasting the future during the issuance and adoption of constitution and other laws. He also indicated that, when we see the constitution of United States of America, which was adopted many years ago, it is still functional, because it was prepared by forecasting the current situation.
“The participation of experts and preparation of various discussion forums during the interpretation process helped Ethiopians to understand the concept of democracy,” he stated.
The situation also helped us to know about constitutional interpretation in practice and to get experience from the process, he added.
The Ethiopian Herald February 28/2021
