The Woyanne ruling junta in Ethiopia handed out 50 birr and a wrist watch to homeless and unemployed people to come to its ‘victory’ rally yesterday at Mesqel Squre, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Most of those who were seen at the rally were unemployed youth who despise the regime.
A shoe shiner told an eyewitness that he was promised 50 birr if he comes to the rally. He said he refused, but many of his friends went.
Woyanne had deployed a massive security force at the rally in case the paid participants resort to protest against the regime. As this photo by Reuters shows, the Federal Police was having hard time controlling the crowd. Military helicopters were circling the Square.
Government emplyees, most of whom are registerd members of Woyanne/EPRDF, were also required to come to the rally or lose their job.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — An eight-party opposition coalition called Medrek called Wednesday for a rerun of the election and said it would not be deterred by the ruling party’s desire to have a single-party state.
“In spite of all the sacrifices paid, both by the nation and by the respective parties, this election simply does not pass the test so we are calling for a rerun of the whole election in the presence of independent election administrators and observers,” said Beyene Petros, the chairman of Medrek.
“This election — let me take that word back, this activity — that took place on May 23, we don’t consider it a genuine election but rather a drama acted by the EPRDF,” he told a news conference in the capital Addis Ababa.
Medrek has won only one seat in parliament so far.
The country’s second biggest opposition party, the All Ethiopian Unity Organization, also rejected the result of the elections and called Wednesday for a rerun.
A European Union observer mission said the election was marred by the EPRDF’s use of state resources for campaigning, putting the opposition at a disadvantage ahead of the vote, but this did not mean the count itself was invalid.
The United States said Ethiopia’s election failed to meet international standards and called for stronger democratic institutions in the country, a key U.S. ally in Africa.
Western diplomats are watching closely to see how the opposition will react after many of its senior leaders lost their seats in the parliamentary victory for Meles, who is looking to foreign investors to help accelerate development.
At the last election, an opposition coalition cried foul after the EPRDF and its allies won 327 seats. Riots erupted in the capital on two separate occasions. Security forces killed 193 protesters and seven policemen died.
Oromia is home to the Oroma, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group with 27 million out of 80 million people. The area produces most of the coffee in Africa’s biggest grower, along with oil seeds, sesame and livestock, which are major exports.
Oromo had been seen by analysts as an opposition stronghold but the EPRDF won all 178 of the region’s parliamentary seats.
Oromo politicians said the government was cracking down on them ahead of the poll. Both the government and the opposition said members were murdered in Oromia by the other side in the four weeks leading up to the May 23 poll.
Ethiopian police Woyanne gunmen shot dead two opposition members in the sensitive Oromia region after an election the ruling party won by a landslide, an opposition party and the government said Wednesday.
The electoral board said Tuesday the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne) and allied parties had won 534 seats out of 536 declared, giving Prime Minister Meles Zenawi most seats in the 547-member parliament.
The shootings occurred over a two-day period, the opposition said.
“One was shot Sunday and one was shot yesterday,” Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People’s Congress (OPC), a member of the opposition coalition Medrek, told Reuters. “The government is trying to prevent protests by massively repressing the people.”
Government head of information, Bereket Simon, said one man was shot after trying to storm an office where ballots were being counted and the other was shot a day later by a policeman whom he had beaten during the same incident.
“It is unfortunate that the men were killed,” Bereket told Reuters. “But these are isolated incidents. It is nothing to do with any instruction from above.” He said there was a warrant for the policeman’s arrest.
The European Union Election Observation Mission has issued the following press statement regarding last Sunday’s (May 23) general elections in Ethiopia. It is reported that after reading the statement, Meles Zenawi called the Chief Observer, Thijs Berman, to his office and threatened to expel him and his team from the country. The beggar dictator must have forgotten that without the financial assistance he receives from EU and the U.S., he cannot last 1 more month in Ethiopia and continue to loot and plunder the country.
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA — The European Union Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia (EU EOM) assessed the election day as peaceful, calm, with high voter turnout for Ethiopia’s fourth elections to the House of Peoples’ Representatives and State Councils.
“I commend the Ethiopian people’s commitment to democracy, as the massive turnout and the peaceful vote is a big achievement for all citizens, demonstrating their desire to exercise their democratic rights fully”. – said the Chief Observer, Thijs Berman.
NEBE organized the elections in a competent and professional manner, however, with some technical difficulties. NEBE has failed to gain the confidence of opposition political parties, as in many regions NEBE officials were perceived to have links with local government authorities.
The EU EOM found that the elections fell short of certain international commitments, notably the lack of level playing field for all parties and the transparency of the process.
The political atmosphere during the weeks leading up to the election was generally calm and peaceful. Nevertheless, the EU EOM observed a climate of apprehension and insecurity, during which the quantity of complaints gradually increased.
The election campaign was peaceful overall and somewhat low-key until the last days of campaigning. The EU EOM observed that the ruling party, EPRDF, had at times used state resources for campaign purposes, contributing to an unlevel playing field leaning in favour of the ruling party in many areas.
The EU EOM observed that the media generally ensured a neutral tone when covering main campaign events; however, more than 50 % of campaign coverage was given to the ruling party in the state-owned media. The media were cautious in their reporting. A generous amount of free airtime was allocated by NEBE to all 63 political parties, but the limited outreach of print and broadcast media around the country weakened voters’ ability to make an informed choice.
The EU EOM will stay in country to observe the tabulation of the results and the announcement of the final results. It will issue its final report within two months of the completion of the entire electoral process.
Statement by National Security Council Spokesman Mike Hammer on Ethiopian Elections
We acknowledge the conclusion of Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections on May 23, 2010. We commend the people of Ethiopia for their civic participation and note that the voting proceeded peacefully.
We are concerned that international observers found that the elections fell short of international commitments. We are disappointed that U.S. Embassy officials were denied accreditation and the opportunity to travel outside of the capital on Election Day to observe the voting. The limitation of independent observation and the harassment of independent media representatives are deeply troubling.
An environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day. In recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken steps to restrict political space for the opposition through intimidation and harassment, tighten its control over civil society, and curtail the activities of independent media. We are concerned that these actions have restricted freedom of expression and association and are inconsistent with the Ethiopian government’s human rights obligations.
As voting concludes and the results are announced, we call on all parties to reject violence. We await the final assessments of the electoral process from independent observers, and encourage the government to address in good faith and impartially any concerns and disputes that are raised.
Ethiopia and the United States have a multifaceted relationship and share a number of important interests. We urge the Ethiopian government to ensure that its citizens are able to enjoy their fundamental rights. We will work diligently with Ethiopia to ensure that strengthened democratic institutions and open political dialogue become a reality for the Ethiopian people.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Ethiopia’s ruling junta leader Meles Zenawi urged the international community on Tuesday to respect his landslide election win vote stealing and said foreign forces could not overturn the outcome and blood should not be shed.
Tens of thousands of ruling party supporters streamed into a square in Ethiopia’s capital to celebrate a peaceful election win for Zenawi and to reject opposition and rights groups’ accusations of vote-rigging.
The government of this key Washington ally in the region has warned that any politicians who try to spark post-election violence will be held responsible. Opposition leaders were jailed en masse after bloody chaos followed Meles’ 2005 victory.
“The people’s vote will not be overturned by foreign forces,” said Meles, standing behind a transparent bullet-proof screen at Meskel Square and wearing a leather jacket and baseball cap.
“Some of our foreign friends have disappointed us but that’s in the past. We urge them now to give recognition to the people’s vote. The politics of hate is out. Not one life should be lost in post-election riots,” he said.
Waving Ethiopian flags, wearing ruling party T-shirts and baseball caps, and holding photographs of Meles aloft, Meles supporters sang in central Addis Ababa: “Respect out vote, respect our decision, respect our choice.”
Placards in the national colors of green, yellow and red were handed out as people massed in Meskel Square to praise the landslide victory by the former bush guerrilla leader, with many written in English as well as the Amharic language.
The posters in English said: “Stop second guessing us!,” “Respect our sovereign voice,” “Our votes are not for sale” and “We choose our leader, no one else.”
Results released by Ethiopia’s electoral board on Monday, showed that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allies won an overwhelming number of votes in nine out of 11 regions and cities to declare so far.
The EPRDF crushed the eight-party opposition coalition known as Medrek in Oromia, the country’s most populous region and traditionally a stronghold for opponents.
The final official results are due on June 21.
Meles told Reuters in an interview on Sunday his party would win as it had presided over seven years of double-digit growth and had begun to reform the political and judicial landscape in this growing destination for foreign direct investment.
While nearly 10 percent of the population relied on emergency food aid last year, the government has invested heavily in infrastructure and Meles now wants to step up power production, improve telecommunications and develop industry.
RIGHTS GROUP
Some opposition leaders began complaining the election was flawed before polling booths closed, saying the EPRDF had routinely intimidated and harassed critics in the days and months ahead of the election.
European Union election observers said on Sunday the poll was peaceful and calm, albeit with some claims of irregularities that needed to be checked. They are due to give a preliminary verdict on Tuesday morning.
Analysts said if the poll were given a clean bill of health by EU observers there would be little momentum for critics to mount a convincing challenge.
If the EU said the poll was flawed, however, it might embolden the opposition to challenge the result and take to the streets in protest as they did in 2005.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Monday that observers should condemn voter intimidation, drawing a sharp response from the government which said the group was an instrument of those wanting to interfere in independent states.
Water cannon trucks were parked either side of Meskel Square and Federal Police searched people as they arrived. All roads leading into the square were closed.
Ethiopians say Meskel Square is where all roads meet in Addis Ababa and it has been the scene of historic moments in the Horn of Africa country’s past.
It was where dictator Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam smashed a red vial to signal the start of the “Red Terror” purges of his opponents. Hundreds of thousands of people were killed before he fled the country in 1991.
It was also where the opposition coalition fighting the 2005 election staged a mass rally.
The 2005 poll descended into riots that killed 193 protesters and seven policemen when a different opposition coalition said it was cheated of victory after a campaign which captured the imagination of many Ethiopians.
(Writing by David Clarke; Editing by Peter Millership)
Most of those who were seen at the rally were unemployed youth who despise the regime.
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA — The European Union Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia (EU EOM) assessed the election day as peaceful, calm, with high voter turnout for Ethiopia’s fourth elections to the House of Peoples’ Representatives and State Councils.