The Ethiopian government has invited the European Union to send an observation mission for the upcoming national elections.

Ambassador Dino Sinigallia, head of the EU delegation to Ethiopia, told The Reporter that the Ethiopian government had invited the EU to carry out preparatory measures for a full-fledged European Observation Mission (EOM). Ambassador Sinigallia said a technical mission will be visiting Ethiopia in mid-February to evaluate the condition for a possible mission during the next Elections.

According to the Ambassador, the EU Delegation is contributing 3 million euros to the multi-donor Democratic Institutions Program (DIP) which is supporting capacity building measures for key democratic institutions of the country - House of Peoples’ Representatives, House of the Federation, the office of the Ombudsman, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Auditor General’s office, the Human Rights Commission, and the National Electoral Board.

“The NEB program is a long-term capacity building activity.

Its scope goes beyond the 2010 elections, but some activities sponsored under the program will definitively help the NEB in preparing for the 2010 elections,” he said.

“With our Civil Society Fund we would have liked to support civil society organizations with the implementation of civic voter education and other election related activities, but it's not yet clear if we will be able to fund them. I hope that some of the funds provided to the NEBE under the DIP Program will be redirected to civil society organizations to carry out voter education, domestic election observation, and the like. This issue of civil society engagement in the elections is currently under discussion between DIP Donors and NEB,” he added.