Impact of COVID-19 on Democratic Election and Development of Ethiopia

The purpose of this paper is to address the major impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sixth general election and democratic development of Ethiopia. The data were drawn from pertinent publications as well as official websites of organizations and synthesized in thematic content analysis. As a major finding, COVID-19 less impacted the overall election process and credibility. Yet, restrictions on major democratic rights, such as freedom of movement and assembly; court system closure; and women's and children's domestic violence were severe impacts of COVID-19 during the lockdown period. Moreover, in human capital development, about 26 million children, 77% of whom are primary school students are affected by school closures; and 1.6–2.4million jobs were lost. Thus, the paper concluded that, though radical opponent political parties understated the credibility of the election by stating election postponement as the main argument, Ethiopia held a relatively democratic election after passing a decision of election postponement owing to the pandemic. So far, human capital and the infant economy were severely impacted by the pandemic, since the vast attention of the government was relied upon on COVID-19 response measures. Thus, to cope with an unforeseen crisis like COVID-19, the government should work on technological advancement to easily handle periodic elections, education, health and economic systems.

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