The following articles, which is posted on WaltaInfo.com, a web site run by the propaganda chief of Ethiopia’s ruling junta, Bereket Simon, accuses Western countries of orchestrating violence in Ethiopia. What these professional beggars seem to forget is that without the billions of dollars they receive from the West, they are as good as dead.

HRW the global bandit and the EU-EOM symphony orchestra

On Tuesday, the Ethiopian people came out in masses around the country angered, irritated by foreign interest groups and their mercenaries such as HRW. So many of the western correspondents who were in Ethiopia exited ready to cover havoc and a rock throwing sports were disappointed because the rocks and the fire bombs were directed to their respective governments and the global bandit hiding in America. They were in no mood to cover this display of unity by Ethiopians, but were at the Hilton waiting for their man with his Symphony orchestra to spit poison on the election process.

The good thing, Ethiopians have been watching and learning the violence orchestrated by western governments and their proxy global NGO bandits all over the world, from Kenya to Georgia, and in almost all African elections. They have rejected election meddling by western powers under the guise of human rights. With life-sized placards, Ethiopians have said, “we know who we voted for, Stupid.”

While I am elated and happy by the peaceful conclusion of the election, I am bothered by the similarity of HRW statements and the EU-EOM preliminary statements. For example, the jamming of the Interahamw radio station a.k.a. Voice of America was declared as test for Ethiopian election fairness.

The EU mission said, since Ethiopians were not able to listen the perspectives of VOA Ethiopians were denied to receive information from America. We all know that we are not voting for the American presidency but Ethiopian parliamentary election, so what kind of election information or instructions were we expected to receive from America. The other funny statement by the EU Orchestra in regards to the media was “The filming of opposition rallies by film crews from Ethiopian TV was directly observed by the EU EOM observers and is considered and is considered tantamount to intimidation in local context.” says the statement. This is laughable, the EU-EOM appears to come with expert anthropologist too, but the anthropologist failed to ask if VOA’s coverage from Washington is offensive and blasphemous for Ethiopians.

Another old beat up tired issue that has appeared in statement by Human rights watch, the state department was repeated by the EU Symphony orchestra was the Ethiopian NGO law that restricted mercenary NGOs such as the Human Rights Watch from meddling in our election. God forbid what will happen if these guys were in town for our election. In its statement, EU-EOM said the law has limited what NGO’s could have played in the electoral process.

He declared the 40,000 strong Ethiopian CSO observers did not have the capacity to observe the election. When asked by reporters why EU- report differs so much from Ethiopian CSO observers and AU, The little Dutch man said we happen to be professionals and 170 of us. How arrogant and patronizing can you get! I wanted to say you are not in Rhodesia or the old South Africa, but Ethiopia. What we letter learned from a local radio interview with the President of Ethiopia CSO’s who fielded 40,000 observers were amusing.

In his interview, the President told the local radio how offended he was by the condescending statement and further said that his group has also rejected an offer of large sum of money from EU-EOM and said the Ethiopian observers were out there observing with a clear conscious to insure the rights of the electorate is respected, and that the offer made by the EU mission was illegal and against the law of our country. He said this is our election and our country and that we are so proud with what we were able to do. I personally think and view the New NGO law to be my own personal anti -terrorist law. Other foolish, silly statements made by the EU Symphony, in line with HRW statements were.

That the political space has narrowed because of the departure of important opposition figures after the 2005 election. Without exaggeration, we can count these important people and they have stopped to be a legal opposition and have declared war on Ethiopia from Asmara, Europe, and America. For us they are as bad as Osama Binlanden is a bad guy for Americans and Europeans who are still chasing him. We are waiting for them from the north of our border.

After applauding the Election Code of Conduct for Political Parties a few month ago seating next to all opposition parties and taking pictures of themselves. The EU mission now says in its statement that the enactment of the Code as law makes it compulsory even for parties who did not signed it. The statement appears to inadvertently spilled the failed strategy by the color revolutionaries and their TLELAKI party Medrek. Since Medrek is the only party that did not signed the Code of Conduct with a possible advice of western Embassies in Addis, the color revolutionaries effectively lost their hoodlums, and were forced to be peaceful or join Ginbot 7 and Nega in Asmara. However, I do not understand why the Symphony orchestra considered this peaceful mechanism as bad or undesirable. In line with this, there was a news report in Addis where their masters at the Netherland Embassy summoned Medrek and some other groups were told not to singe on the final Election results. I wonder why the government keeps quite about this cheese-heads.

On a final note, the Ethiopian people have voted and said We Know who we voted for. On Meskel Square on Tuesday, They have said the Election is for Ethiopians not HRW! Our Sovereignty is never negotiable for Donations! Stop meddling in our affairs! We will not let you repeats the shameful 2005 incident! For most of this was this was a non-violent war on our country by a smiling straight-faced lying and deceitful white man.

Eritrean Ministry of Information’s Shabait.com has posted the following editorial today regarding the May 23, 2010 elections in Ethiopia:

The Ethiopian people had in 2005 once and for all made their choice clear in no uncertain terms, voting for the TPLF regime to rescind from power. Still, the so-called ‘advocates of democracy’, were once again compelled to stage another elections drama so as to buy another five-year ticket for their agent regime. Unfortunately, the TPLF regime turned out to be a bad performer and the ‘directors’ of the drama were left unimpressed. Consequently these ‘directors’ were forced to add additional scenes into the drama in which the ‘guest stars’ mumble something about the election not being ” up to international standards”.

However, realizing that they cannot find a more debase agent than the TPLF regime, these quarters swallowed their disappointment and kept on cheering for the drama that flopped even before it premiered. A theatrical presentation attended only by the ‘directors’ and ‘performers’ themselves!

Woyanne propaganda chief Bereket Simon makes a fool out of himself on Al Jazeera TV by trying to defend his regime’s conduct in the May 2010 elections in Ethiopia. Watch below:

Author Tesfaye GebreAb analyzes Ethiopian election 2010 in which he gives us insight into what possible measures Meles Zenawi and his Woyanne ruling junta are preparing to take in order to consolidate their 99% ‘victory’ at the May 23 election. Click here to read – PDF, Amharic.

European Union Election Observation Mission has issued an 11-page preliminary statement on the May 23, 2010, elections in Ethiopia. (Click here for the full statement, pdf)

Executive Summary

The fourth elections to the House of People’s Representatives and State Councils have so far been held in a generally peaceful environment, as unanimously called for by all stakeholders. The relatively quiet election campaign by the opposition parties and the incumbent, the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, grew in intensity at the very last stage. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia administered the electoral process in an efficient and competent manner, but failed to dispel opposition parties’ lack of trust in its independence.

While several positive improvements have been introduced, the electoral process fell short of certain international commitments, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties.

Election Day unfolded in a peaceful manner, with a high voter turnout. Overall, the secrecy of the vote was respected despite isolated irregularities and an inconsistent application of procedures. Party agents and domestic observers were present in the majority of observed polling stations.

The general political environment in the country has been relatively calm, although the level of localised tension in numerous constituencies rose as Election Day approached. Similarly, the election campaign was essentially peaceful, if somewhat low-key and discreet until the last days of campaigning.

The separation between the ruling party and the public administration was blurred at the local level in many constituencies. The EU EOM directly observed some cases of use of state resources for ruling party campaign activities. Even taking into account the inherent advantages of the incumbency, the EU EOM considers that the playing field for the 2010 elections was not sufficiently balanced, leaning in favour of the ruling party in many areas.

The fragmentation of the main opposition forces in the aftermath of the 2005 elections, together with the departure of important opposition figures from the Ethiopian political scene, in conjunction with changes to the legal framework have resulted in a cumulative narrowing of the political space within the country.

The Ethiopian legal framework appears to provide an adequate basis for the conduct of genuine elections in line with regional and international commitments subscribed to by Ethiopia. However, the practical implementation of the laws regulating elections deviates in certain cases from the spirit of these commitments, thereby constraining the electoral process and more particularly the full, non-discriminatory enjoyment of fundamental rights.

Overall, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) administered the elections in a competent and professional manner, overcoming significant technical challenges. However, shortcomings were noted, notably in terms of the consistency and coherence of technical information received and aggregated by the electoral authority, such as complete polling station lists, which has affected the transparency of the process. Insufficient measures were taken to increase the level of trust of some opposition parties in the impartiality of the NEBE, especially at the constituency level. At the national and in most cases constituency level, the electoral authorities have been very cooperative with the EU EOM.

The voter register for the 2010 elections is relatively inclusive on the basis of NEBE projections, with around 32 million registered voters out of 37 million eligible citizens. Notwithstanding, the lack of a national voters list does not allow for the purging of multiple registrations.

The provisions for complaints and appeals related to voting, counting and tabulation have been significantly strengthened in the last five years. Nonetheless, the EU EOM considers that further measures must be implemented to ensure that they provide the opportunity for effective legal remedy on election-related complaints, in light of opposition parties’ lack of confidence in the independence and neutrality of the judiciary and the police.

The number of complaints of campaign violations, harassment and intimidation, including cases of violence, voiced both by the opposition and the ruling party rose in the last weeks. The sheer volume and consistency of these complaints is a matter of concern and has to be taken into consideration in the overall appreciation of the electoral process. The EU EOM recalls the importance for the representatives of all parties to be able to campaign in an environment free from intimidation and threats and for all dissenting views to be respected.

Generally, the media ensured a neutral coverage of the main political campaign events. The state-owned media gave the ruling party more than 50% of its total coverage on news programmes. A generous amount of free airtime was distributed proportionately to the different parties. Overall, the media were cautious in their reporting. The jamming of Voice of America Amharic Service during the last weeks of the campaign contributed to reduce the possibility for voters to receive information from a wider range of sources.

Overall, women are under-represented in the electoral authorities, although their participation among polling station staff was higher than at other levels of the NEBE. Women are also under-represented in most political parties, with the exception of the EPRDF who is fielding women candidates in line with its 30% quota. The number of women candidates as a whole has decreased compared to the 2005 elections.

(Click here for the full statement, pdf)