Ethiopia's Federal High Court has lifted an injunction against the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), freeing the board to implement a House of Federation decision on five contested constituencies disputed between Amhara and Tigray regional states.
The injunction was originally issued after Simeret Party filed a legal challenge, according to The Reporter Ethiopia. The court order had barred NEBE from proceeding with the House of Federation's ruling on the border constituencies.
The five constituencies sit along the Amhara-Tigray border, an area that has remained politically sensitive since the 1991 redrawing of regional boundaries. The dispute intensified during the 2020-2022 Tigray war, when territorial control shifted multiple times across the contested areas.
NEBE is now free to proceed with implementing the House of Federation's decision on the constituencies. The House of Federation is Ethiopia's constitutional body empowered to resolve inter-regional boundary disputes.
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The development comes as Ethiopia prepares for national elections, with NEBE having already deployed monitors to security hotspots and met with opposition parties on polling station security concerns.
The lifting of the injunction represents a significant legal development in Ethiopia's pre-election period, as it resolves a procedural barrier that had prevented implementation of the constitutional boundary dispute mechanism. The Amhara-Tigray border remains one of the most sensitive political issues in Ethiopian federalism, with hundreds of residents fleeing Tigray daily as federal and regional forces maintain positions along the disputed boundary. The House of Federation's authority to adjudicate such disputes has become increasingly important as Ethiopia's federal system faces territorial challenges across multiple regional boundaries.
