Article Sidebar
Published:
Sep 30, 2021DOI:
10.4314/mlr.v15i1.10Keywords:
Article Details
a) Copyright of the content of the articles shall be retained by the author subject to the condition that it cannot be republished in another journal. The reproduction of the article as book chapter requires the acknowledgement of its prior publication in Mizan Law Review.
b) An author is entitled to deposit her/his published article in any Open Access repository subject to the condition that the format and layout shall not be changed. Depositing a post-publication version in any repository requires acknowledgement of the earlier version by indicating the Volume, Issue and page numbers of the version published in Mizan Law Review.
c) Articles published in Mizan Law Review are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
Privacy Statement
a) Where the Editorial Team deems it necessary, the editors may remove precise reference to names of individuals in case comments.
b) The names and email addresses submitted to and published in Mizan Law Review shall not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.
Disclaimer
Opinions expressed in articles, comments, case comments and sharing thoughts do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Team, or the publisher of the journal, i.e., Center for Law in Sustainable Development, St. Mary’s University.
Main Article Content
Comment: Legitimizing Gerrymandering in the Harari Regional State Contrary to the Principle of Equality of Votes
Simeneh Kiros Assefa
Abstract
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) had rejected the request to enable ethnic-Hararis who reside outside Harari Regional State to vote in the election of Harari National Council members. The Board stated that it is not bound by prior practices that do not have constitutional foundation. The Board further noted that accepting such demand would jeopardize the fairness and impartiality of the Board against other minority ethnic groups whose members reside outside their national state. NEBE argued that article 50(2) of the Harari Constitution contradicts the provision of article 50(3) of the FDRE Constitution. However, based on the Harari National Council’s petition to the Federal Supreme Court, the decision of NEBE has been reversed, and this has been further affirmed by the FSC Cassation Division. This comment examines the legal foundation and propriety of the decisions of the Federal Supreme Court and the FSC Cassation Division. Inter alia, the FSC Cassation Division has misinterpreted a provision under article 50(2) of the Harari Regional State Constitution that expressly refers to the right to be candidate in elections at place of birth as opposed to voting rights irrespective of residence.
