Sophia Shibabaw with her beloved dad

Sophia Shibabaw with her beloved dad, a to Shibabaw.

The voting of the referendum held in six zones and five special districts in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region has been completed: National Election Board

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 The National Election Board of Ethiopia has announced that the referendum voting program held today in six zones and five special districts in the southern nations and peoples region has been completed and counting has begun.

The board gave a press release to the media this evening regarding the referendum voting process held today in Konso, South Omo, Wolaita, Gamo, Gedeo, Gofa zones and Burji, Basketo, Ale, Amarona Derashe special districts of the region.

The chairman of the National Election Board of Ethiopia Birtukhan Mideksa said in a press release that the voting program will be held from 12:00 AM to 2:00 PM today at 3,771 polling stations under 31 centers.

They said that in most polling stations, the voting process was completed at 12 noon and the polling stations were closed.

He stated that the election of the people's decision which was held in six zones and five special districts of the region was conducted in a peaceful manner except for a few procedural gaps and the electorate cast their votes without any problems.

The commissioner mentioned that the counting of votes has started in most of the polling stations and pointed out that one of the irregularities encountered in the voting process is the fact that minors under the age of 18 are registered as voters.

The Chairperson also raised the violations of the law by the management bodies in issuing identification cards at Sorto polling station.

People pointed out that the decision was made in a peaceful manner, but due to the lack of police force in the state police commission, it was learned that the militias were assigned to certain stations.

He also explained that the information about these and other omissions and violations of the law was collected from the board's call center, observers and the board's leadership members.

According to the chairperson of the National Election Board, ESA reported that today's election was conducted satisfactorily.