Benishangul Gumuz opposition petitions constitutional Inquiry over regional constitution amendment, seat allocation

Addis Abeba– Three opposition members of the Benishangul Gumuz Regional Council have submitted a petition to Ethiopia’s Council of Constitutional Inquiry, requesting a constitutional interpretation of recent amendments to the region’s Constitution and council seat allocation. They argue that the changes should be “declared non-existent” and “rendered inapplicable.”

The amendments, passed by a majority vote in the regional council two weeks ago, increased the number of council seats from 99 to 165. A previous constitutional provision stating that “total council members shall not exceed one hundred” was replaced with a new clause limiting the council to 165 members. The amendment also revised district representation, changing the number of representatives per electoral district from a range of 4 to 6 to a range of 5 to 11.

The petitioners, members of the opposition Boro Democratic Party (BDP), stated that the amendments also dissolved three existing electoral districts and established five new ones—Abramo, Ura, Undulu, Assosa Town district one, and Assosa town district two. They claim that “these five districts, created for administrative purposes, have been counted as electoral districts and assigned 31 council seats.” The petition further argues that “the regional council does not have the constitutional mandate to dissolve or create electoral districts, as this authority belongs to the House of Federation and the National Election Board of Ethiopia.”

The petition also challenges the basis for increasing the number of council seats. It states that the seat expansion was “not population-based” and that the new allocation was “distributed by district numbers rather than by population size.” It further argues that “while each district’s population should determine the number of seats, some districts with larger populations received fewer seats, while those with smaller populations were allocated more.”

The opposition members also raised concerns about the amendment process itself. The petition states that “amending certain sections of the regional Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote in all district councils, in addition to a majority vote in the regional council.”

However, it argues that “the district councils that should have approved the amendment were elected in 2005 and have since completed their five-year terms.” As a result, the petition claims that “since local elections have not been held and new district councils have not been elected, the current councils lack the constitutional authority to convene and make legal decisions.”

The petition further states that the region’s emblem was modified and that the ethnic group name “Berta” was replaced with “Benishangul” in the Constitution. It notes that “the name ‘Berta’ was changed to ‘Benishangul’ a few years ago, and this amendment has now formally incorporated that change into the regional Constitution.”

The Boro Democratic Party (BDP) is one of the opposition parties that previously called on the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to conduct delayed elections in Benishangul-Gumuz. Alongside other opposition groups, BDP argued that security conditions had improved following peace agreements between the regional government and armed groups, making it possible to hold elections in areas where voting had not taken place in the 6th national election in June 2021.

Subsequently, in the supplementary and re-run elections held by NEBE on June 16, 2024, BDP won three seats in the Benishangul-Gumuz Regional Council and one seat in the House of People’s Representatives. AS

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