ADDIS ABABA (Xinhuanet) — A total of 319 foreign observers will be deployed to various parts of Ethiopia to observe the upcoming May 15 national elections, the state-appointed National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said Monday.
NEBE Chairman Kemal Bedri told journalists that the observers are drawn from the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU), the Arab League, the US-based Carter Center and embassies of other countries.
The chairman said diplomatic missions in Addis Ababa, including the American, Japanese, Chinese, Indian and Turkish embassies to Ethiopia, have requested the board to allow them to assign their own election observers in the forthcoming national elections.
According to the chairman, only three local religious institutions have so far been allowed to assign their election observers. Non-governmental organizations and civil societies would not be allowed to assign their observers.
Referring to the issue of journalists covering the elections, Kemal said the board would provide IDs to only those journalists acknowledged by the Ministry of Information.
Thirty-six political parties will contest places in the 547-seat federal parliament in the elections, which the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is strongly favored to win.
Up to 25.6 million people have registered to vote at 38,000 polling stations, according to the board.
ASBE TEFERI, Ethiopia (ENA) — The West Harerge Zone in eastern Ethiopia police force says it has arrested five people carrying weapons, as well as leaflets and logo of the opposition Oromo National Congress (ONC) in Taisi and Kurfa-Roka kebeles neighbourhoods of the Bokae Woreda district.
Zonal police public relations department head, Deputy Inspector Hailu Fekedu, said among the five people, two were arrested while travelling to Kurfa-Roka kebele with a vehicle loaded with weapons, leaflets and ONC logo.
The head added that other three people were similarly caught red-handed in Kurfa-Roka kebele with 10 weapons, ONC electoral symbols and leaflets, acting on public tip off. The deputy inspector said police have continued investigations.
The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said Tuesday it has decreed that no political party or independent candidates shall campaign at market places as market places are business areas.
At its regular meeting, the board said it has passed the decision as it found election campaigns at market places detrimental to public peace and stability, adding that election campaigns should be conducted 200 meters away from market places.
The board said it was forced to restrict election campaigns at market places in all regional states based on incidents observed recently as well as on previous experiences.
The government will execute the board’s decision to discharge its responsibility of maintaining the peace and stability of the public, the board said.
More than 25 million of Ethiopia’s 71 million people have registered to vote. Some 35 political parties will vie for seats in the 547-seat Council of People’s Representatives.
Voters will also elect representatives in nine regional state parliaments that appoint members of the 108-seat Council of the Federation, the upper house.
The election, the third since the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power in 1991, will be the first in Ethiopia to be held under international scrutiny although there have been complaints that local observers have been unfairly denied access.
All the elections have been convincingly won by the ruling EPRDF. The ruling party and affiliated parties hold 519 of 548 seats in the federal parliament.
ATLANTA – The Carter Center, invited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and welcomed by the National Election Board, will observe Ethiopia’s national elections May 15th. The 50-member delegation will be led by: former U.S. President Jimmy Carter; his wife, Rosalynn; former Botswana President Sir Ketumile Joni Masire; former Tanzania Prime Minister Judge Joseph Warioba; and Carter Center Executive Director John Hardman.
The Center’s election observation mission follows an assessment trip in January during in which the Center met with government representatives from the parliament and foreign ministry, opposition party leaders, and representatives of civil society organizations. The mission opened an office in Addis Ababa March 19.
“This election is an important step in the consolidation of democracy since the 1991 transition,” said Rachel Fowler, senior program associate of the Center’s Democracy Program. “The Carter Center is encouraged by the broad participation in the process, and its observation would support a more open, transparent process.”
A small team of medium-term observers deployed in early April to areas outside of Addis Ababa to observe the political environment, election preparations, and the political party campaigns. The remainder of the delegation, representing 17 countries, arrives May 10 and will receive briefings in Addis Ababa before deployment throughout Ethiopia. The delegation’s leadership, Fowler, and Ethiopia Field Office Director Samantha Aucock hope to meet with candidates, the election commission, domestic observers, and other international observers in the days before the election. On May 15, Center observers will witness poll openings, voting, and a poll closing, including counting and tracking of the tabulation of results.
CONTACT:
Kay Torrance
In Atlanta, 404-420-5129
In Addis Ababa, Samantha Aucock
+251-09 47 20 65
The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, the Center has helped to improve life for people in more than 65 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers to increase crop production. Please visit www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.
ADDIS ABABA (IRIN) – Fifty-two European Union (EU) long-term election observers flew into Ethiopia on Friday, officials said, to act as the “eyes and ears” of the mission – one month ahead of the national elections.
Rafael Lopez Pintor, deputy chief observer, told reporters in the capital, Addis Ababa, the observers were the core element of the EU mission to assess Ethiopia’s third ever democratic ballot.
“The long term observers are an extremely important ingredient in a mission,” he said. “The long term observers provide first hand information on how the campaign is being run around the country. They are our eyes and ears on the ground.
“They are all highly experienced electoral observers, they are all very well trained,” he added.
Pintor said it was critical that election observers were in the country ahead of polling, to observe and assess the entire election process.
“We want to have a view of the entire process, before, during and after the election,” he said. “They will be here about 15 or 20 days after the election. Before the election is as important or more important in some respects, than the voting day and this is the reason why they come in one month before.”
The observers are to be deployed to eight of Ethiopia’s nine regions (national elections in Somali region have been delayed until August), attend political rallies and meet parties who will be contesting the elections.
They would also be sent to potential trouble spots like Gambella in western Ethiopia where there have been serious clashes among ethnic groups in recent years.
“In principle we hope to have a similar presence in all regions but then as the election gets nearer we will have to decide where if necessary to have a more intense presence,” Pintor added.
The EU would also deploy 100 short-term observers who are expected to fly in on May 10th – five days before the elections are held.
The first contingent of the EU team arrived in March to prepare the groundwork for the observers. Opposition groups have argued that the EU deployment is too little, an argument dismissed by the observer mission.
Chief observer Ana Gomes told a press conference on arrival: “We are determined to ensure a very professional, impartial and independent job in observing the elections, so all Ethiopians can believe this will be a genuine election,” she said.
The general elections would be the third democratic ballot in Ethiopia’s history. Ethiopia has a two-house parliament: the 112-seat upper House of the Federation and the 547-seat lower House of People’s Representatives. More than 25 million of Ethiopia’s 71 million people have registered to vote.
ADDIS ABABA: The European Union yesterday expressed concern over reports of “harassment” in the Horn of Africa nation, ahead of general elections scheduled for next month, officials said.
“Reports of harassment, imprisonment, and other activities of intimidation are worrysome,” said Rob Vermas, the Dutch ambassador, representing the EU in Ethiopia, while welcoming about 50 EU observers who arrived on Friday.
EU officials said the decision by the Ethiopian government on March 30 to expel three US democracy groups, the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) was disappointing.
“The recent issuance of a directive on local observers is disappointing,” Vermas explained.
“The NEBE’s (state-run National Election Board of Ethiopia) directives will virtually exclude many local NGOs (non-governmental organisations) from observing the election,” Vermas explained.
The election will be the third since the governing EPRDF’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi came to power in 1991. It will, however, be the first in Ethiopia to be held under international scrutiny amid complaints that local observers have been unfairly denied access.
About 100 more EU election observers are expected to arrive on May 10.
Vermas spoke a day after Ethiopia’s Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) claimed that nine of its members had been arrested since March 26 in acts that amounted to harassment in Hadiya Zone, about 360km south of the capital Addis Ababa. – AFP
