In an unexpected move, the world football governing body, FIFA, extended the date of the Ethiopian Football Federation Presidential and Executive Committee Election to mid-March. In a statement citing the shortage of human power FIFA suggested that they will send observers in mid-March, without specifying the date.
This was the fifth change of the election date in the span of three months. At first the election was set to take place on November 10-11, 2017 but postponed to December 25 due to the intervention of the world football governing body, FIFA.
According to FIFA’s election procedures all national federations that plan to conduct a General Assembly and presidential election to establish a new administration are expected to notify the international football governing body 30 days before the actual election takes place.
When the national federations plan to elect the president and executive committee members, the FIFA procedure states, an independent Electoral Committee must be set up to carry out the process of the election.
In the Ethiopian case the national federation notified FIFA a week before the date of the Presidential election and it was confirmed that the Electoral Committee was not set up. So FIFA ordered the EFF to change the date and form an independent Electoral Committee. Due to this the EFF extended the date for December 25.
“One of the four founding members of African Football that has produced the likes of  the late Yedenekachew Tessema who presided on the continent’s football for 15 years, calling FIFA to intervene in the election shows our football governing body is inefficient and ineffective,”  a critic suggested.