The European Union’s chief election observer Mr.Tijis Berman’s comments have confirmed other reports coming from Ethiopia that the national elections held on Sunday, May 23rd were neither fair nor free. During a press conference in Addis Ababa, Mr. Tijis Berman stated that last weekend’s poll was conducted on an “uneven playing field” that favored the party of the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Mr. Johnnie Carson, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs in the State Department told the House Foreign committee, “we note with some degree of remorse that the elections were not up to international standards…the government has taken clear and decisive steps that would ensure that it would garner an electoral victory.”
Dr. Merara Gudina, leader of Mederek, the largest opposition coalition, stated in an interview that the Ethiopian 2010 election “doesn’t look like an election even by African standards.” Dr. Negasso Gidada, another Mederek leader added, “…some of his party’s observers had been blocked and arrested in northern Ethiopia, and others had been intimidated.” Similar stories of massive intimidation and harassment of opposition candidates, activists and observers have been heard from most of the leaders of the opposition parties who took part in the elections, including Ato Hailu Shawel, the leader of AEUP, signatory and party to a code of conduct agreement with the ruling party few months ago.
A resident of Addis Ababa told Human Rights Watch “Intimidation to register and to vote for the ruling party is everywhere, if the local administration is against you; they’ll be after you forever. They can come and round you up at will.” Human Rights Watch also reported, “that during April and May, officials and militia (known as tataqi in Amharic) from the local administration went house to house telling citizens to register to vote and to vote for the ruling party or face reprisals from local party officials such as bureaucratic harassment or even losing their homes or jobs…” Human Rights Watch ended its report on the 2010 election by stating, “Ethiopia is an authoritarian state in which the government’s commitment to democracy exists only on paper, the question is not who won these elections, but how can donors justify business as usual with this increasingly repressive government?”
Advocacy for Ethiopia (AFE) and Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy (EACA) reject the results of the 2010 elections in Ethiopia. The ruling regime EPRDF, by claiming to have a so -called “landslide” election victory with a margin of over 96%, has put itself in line with other dictators including Mengistu Haile Miriam and Idi Amin of Uganda who all boasted landslide wins of more than 90% votes. Several advocacy and human rights groups have previously expressed their profound concern about the lack of conditions necessary to conduct free and fair elections in Ethiopia. The ruling TPLF/EPRDF has once again failed Ethiopia, Africa and the international community.
With overwhelming evidences of election irregularities as indicated by European elections observers, AFE and EACA therefore, reject a process and outcome that fails far short of being free and fair by all accepted international standards, principles, and norms of holding free and democratic elections. Moreover, Birtukan Mideksa, the leader of UDJ and thousands of other political prisoners still languish in EPRDF’s jails.
AFE and EACE call on the international community to reject the results of the 2010 elections and boycott the charade to crown a brutal dictator for another five years. AFE and EACA call on all who believe in human rights, the rule of law and democracy to be reenergized and intensify the struggle for freedom by charting in unison a national platforum that is inclusive of all those striving for democracy, human rights and the rule of law to prevail in Ethiopia.
Advocacy for Ethiopia
PO Box 892, El Segundo, CA 90245-0892 USA
AdvocacyForEthiopia.org
Tel: 202-386-3037
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.
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.
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)
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Shortly after dawn Ethiopia’s capital was filled with the sound of loud hailers, the horns of flatbed lorries packed with people and the distorted blast of sound systems playing music.
Roads in Addis Ababa on Tuesday were blocked by paramilitary police in pale blue combat uniforms. A helicopter with a surveillance camera zoomed in on the crowded streets below.
The ruling party had planned it this way well in advance – the heart of Addis to be taken over for celebrations. Tens of thousands of people awaiting the message from one time guerilla fighter turned Africa statesman, father of three, Meles Zenawi.
Twelve hours earlier a posse of media had waited patiently outside a single storey building the size of a school classroom – the place where the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) was to make its pronouncement on provisional results.
‘Tell us who won!’
It turned out to be a haphazard affair. First Merga Bekana, the board chairman, struggled with spreadsheets beamed onto a rough plaster wall from a projector.
As he decided to abandon the presentation and send a messenger to get a printout of the provisional results, an American reporter barked: “Just tell us who won!”
Meskel Square was a hive of activity. With security forces all around this historic square in darkness, construction work was going on to assemble a dais for the victory celebration – and a position where Meles, the incumbent prime minister, could address his supporters from behind a bullet proof screen.
In the heated atmosphere of the results room, a long list of numbers was finally read out by Bekana. At first he appeared reluctant to announce a provisional winner and then came the words: “Definitely the EPRDF [the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front] has won. At this point definitely.”
And it was a landslide. The EPRDF had won by a larger margin than many analysts had expected. Their biggest challengers – Medrek, a forum of eight parties – had been decimated.
In advance of Sunday’s poll and during the voting, the opposition had been complaining of ballot stuffing, intimidation, harassment and the blocking of their observers in some of the 43,000 polling stations.
But on this night they were silent. And the next morning it was obvious they were letting the ruling party’s choreographed plans roll out.
They were waiting to hear what foreign observers had to say.
EU election monitors, in two floors of the Addis Hilton Hotel, were busily preparing for its news conference.
Expulsion threat
Draft copies of their findings had somehow found their way to Zenawi’s office.
I understand from sources that Thijs Berman, the EU chief observer, had been summoned by Zenawi on Monday for a serious dressing down – even a threat of expelling the 170-strong mission from the country.
And so, when on early Tuesday morning Zenawi spoke above the cacophony of his supporters’ wailing and cheering in Medrek Square, these words came in the Amharic language: “The people’s vote will not be overturned by foreign forces.
“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.”
EU complaints
What was the opposition position on that statement?
Still no official word as the assembled throng of ruling party supporters became more challenging towards foreign faces. Some of them turned on foreign national journalists, like myself, chanting: “Tell the truth, fair reporting”.
Less than two hours later Berman addressed his large media audience.
He said the polling had been generally calm and peaceful, and organised in a competent and professional manner. However, in the political atmosphere during the weeks running up to the elections, his observers noted apprehension and insecurity as the number of complaints from the opposition increased.
Then he got to the point: “The title of our preliminary report is high turnout on election day but marred by narrowing political space and an uneven playing field.
“The EU observed the use of state resources for the campaign.
“Insufficient measures were taken to increase the level of trust of some political parties in the NEBE institution, especially at the local level.”
A few hours after his news conference came another EU statement, this time from Brussels.
Catherine Ashton, the EU foregn policy chief, said: “I welcome the peaceful conduct of the elections and I congratulate the Ethiopian voters for showing their commitment to this process with a high turnout.
“The legislative elections in Ethiopia were an important moment in the democratic process in the country,.”
Ashton further said the EU “stands ready to work with Ethiopia to further deepen our relations with the government and the peoples”.
Court consideration
So what should most Ethiopians, and particularly the opposition parties, make of this? Opposition leaders are still considering their next move.
Street protests are ruled out after the deaths of 193 demonstrators and seven policemen following the disputed 2005 election.
Back then the opposition was much stronger. Now the only realistic option is for them to look to the civil courts.
Medrek has an open hand as its campaign symbol, seen as a stop sign for Meles rule.
The EPRDF has a worker bee as its symbol.
The bee has stung the hand convincingly.
But how will this play out with a new government with a massively increased majority?
Ethiopia is a country with an estimated population of more than 80 million people and a massive need to help the vast majority of its people who live on less than $2 a day.
Meles has an answer – more foreign support for aid programmes while he works on the private sector.
European Union’s election observation mission smacked Meles Zenawi’s smug off his bestial face today by announcing that the election was rigged. This came on the heels of Human Rights Watch’s stinging criticism of how the ruling junta conducted Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Ethiopia. What was planned as a victory celebration party this morning in Addis Ababa turned into a protest rally by Woyanne junta against the European Union and HRW, as Bloomberg’s Jason McLure reports from Addis Ababa:
(Bloomberg) — Tens of thousands of supporters of Ethiopia’s ruling party staged a protest in the capital, Addis Ababa, against a Human Rights Watch report critical of the country’s elections.
Prime Minister Genocidal dictator Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front crime family is headed for victory in the May 23 vote after it garnered 6.8 million of the 7.3 million votes tallied so far. An estimated 29 million ballots were cast.
Human Rights Watch said yesterday the government and ruling party officials used a combination of harassment and arrests and withholding food aid and jobs to thwart opponents in the run up to the election. The government has denied the allegations, saying economic growth in Ethiopia of more than 7 percent annually over the past five years has bolstered its support.
“This election does not concern Human Rights Watch,” Mulugeta Gebegiorgis, a 38-year-old driver, said in an interview in Addis Ababa’s central Meskel Square ahead of a planned speech by Meles. Police maintained a heavy presence on the streets of the city, as protesters waved placards with slogans such as ‘We choose our leaders, no one else,’ and ‘Election observers yes, Trojan horses no.’
A former Marxist guerrilla leader who has ruled Africa’s second-most populous nation since 1991, Meles, 55, has been a key ally in the fight against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia. Under Meles, Ethiopia, Africa’s top coffee producer, has pursued an economic model that mixes a large state role with foreign investment in roads, dams and power.
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.