A statement has been posted in the name of CUD on Kestedemena Party’s web site that contradicts Ato Hailu Shawel’s announcement that CUD will not enter parliament. The statement does not bear CUD’s official stamp, and we have confirmed that the CUD council did not authorize the statement posted on Kestedemena’s web site against its chairman.
The Kestedemena Party chairman, Dr Berhanu Nega, who is the campaign manager for CUD, also held a press conference today (Sep 21) and told reporters that Ato Hailu’s statement doesn’t represent CUD. Dr Berhanu doesn’t have the authority to contradict the chairman of CUD. By coming out against Ato Hailu, not only he is violating party discipline, he is also creating confusion and frustration among the CUD supporters, and the public at large.
Of course, this is not the first time that Dr Berhanu tried to contradict the CUD chairman and assuming the role of CUD leader. Since May 15, he has been trying to silence the chairman who has been championing the cause of the vast majority of Ethiopians for past several years. It is absurd why an election campaign manager is given a free hand to destroy the image of the coalition and its chairman. Dr Berhanu, who has appeard in the opposition camp just a few months before the election, has been the source of confusion and division in the CUD. Once again, Ethiopian Review urges the CUD leadership to take a corrective action as soon as possible in order to preserve its creditability.
The people of Ethiopia are with Ato Hailu Shawel. If Dr Berhanu wants to work with the murderous regime of Meles Zenawi, that is his right. But he must not be allowed to use CUD as a cover to advance his own agenda.
The people of Ethiopia have spoken clearly–they don’t want to be governed by the Meles regime for five more years. Berhanu Nega must respect the people’s desire to be liberated from dictatorship now, not five years from now.
Meles Zenawi left New York in a hurry and arrived in Addis Ababa last Saturday after attending the United Nations General Assembly on Sep 15. Meles used to go to Washington DC after attending UN annual meetings, but this time he left the U.S. in a hurry to avoid questioning by Tensae Radio lawyers, observers say.
A counter lawsuit is being filed against Meles, Bereket and other top officials of the EPRDF regime by Tensae radio accusing them of torture and murder of Ethiopian civilians. According to the evidences that are being gathered so far, some of victims could be close relatives of Ethiopian Americans.
Tensae Radio initiated the counter lawsuit after Meles and his officials filed a lawsuit against Tensae Radio officials charging them of defamation. The lawsuit was filed in a Virginia court. When Meles took this legal action, he waived any diplomatic immunity he may have, legal experts informed Ethiopian Review.
The counter lawsuit may force Meles and his officials to stay away from the United States and European countries to avoid deposition, and possible arrest.
Law experts say that the June 8 massacre is particularly troublesome for Meles since he took direct command of the security forces that perpetrated the mass murder.
ADDIS ABABA (ENA) — Registration of voters and contesting candidates across the nation was officially closed at 7 p.m. (local time) on 13 February 2005 with the exception in the Somali Regional State where the election would be held in August 2005, the office of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced.
Deputy Chief of NEBE Tesfaye Mengesha told ENA on Sunday that registration documents would be sealed in the presence of election executives, public observers and political parties’ representatives.
The respective polling stations should fill in the statistical data of the registration on appropriate form by 14 February 2005, he said, adding that the registration document would be open to public the next day as per the board’s schedule. Tesfaye said the board would receive and scrutinize any inconveniences to be reported by election executives, observers or representatives of political parties.
Scrutiny of competing candidates would be undertaken across the nation on 14 and 15 February 2005 at constituencies and woreda district electoral offices. As per the programme, candidates of political parties would bear candidature symbols selected by their respective political parties while independent candidates would choose symbols on 14 and 15 February 2005, he said.
Contesting candidates for seats in both the House of People’s Representatives and regional councils would receive candidature identification cards on 16 February 2005 at the respective woreda electoral offices, the official said. The candidates may begin their election campaign on 16 February 2005 in their respective constituencies, he indicated.
He also said special registration of voters would be carried out as per the decision of the board soon as fire accident was reported in various polling stations in Dilana-Dima Woreda of the South Ethiopia Peoples State — Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ State, in southern Ethiopia.
According to the chief, fire accident destroyed the registration file and voters identification cards in those polling stations. The necessary documents would be sent for special registration of voters in those areas, the official noted.
The number of voters registered to cast ballots in the upcoming national elections is estimated to reach 25 million, Tesfaye said. About 30 million voters were registered in the 1992 E.C. (Ethiopian Calendar, 2000) national elections.
ADDIS ABABA (IRIN) – Ethiopia’s parliament reformed the country’s electoral law on Tuesday ahead of May’s general election, but the ruling stopped short of hopes by opposition parties.
It was the first time that the law had been amended since the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power in 1991. The reform agreement was made by the EPRDF and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), a 14-strong coalition of opposition groups.
However, opposition groups insisted on Wednesday the reforms did not go far enough and said they are still undecided over whether they will participate in the 15 May elections.
Merera Gudina, chairman of the UEDF, told IRIN their fundamental concerns over the impartiality of the country’s electoral commission still remained.
“The fundamental problem, the question of restructuring the electoral board, still remains,” he said. “There are some minor changes, but it has not gone far enough. We are in a dilemma over whether to participate in the election because of this problem.”
Merera said the UEDF would announce within a month whether they would challenge the government after discussions with members of the coalition group.
Tesfaye Mengesha, deputy head of the National Election Board, however rejected claims that the commission was linked to any political parties.
“We are appointed by parliament,” Tesfaye told IRIN. “We are non partisan.”
Merera said the parliament agreed to 20 changes of the 30 proposed.
Among the most significant amendments was scrapping the number of signatures required for a candidate to stand in an election. Opposition groups were also allowed the right to call meetings and stage demonstrations, while access to state-controlled airtime has also been agreed upon.
The EPRDF will get 44 percent of airtime. The two main coalition opposition groups will receive 23 percent each, while a further 10 percent will be divided up between minority parties.
The reforms came as NGOs expressed concerns that they may be excluded from monitoring the elections. A network of NGOs believe that “vague wording” in the amendments could now exclude them from the process and are now seeking government assurances.
The previous law specifically allowed for local NGOs to monitor the elections, but that has now been dropped and replaced by “people’s organisations”.
“We have reason to suspect that this amendment was probably deliberately intended to exclude NGOs from any election monitoring activity,” said an official from the Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia.
The UEDF coalition currently has nine members in the House of People’s Representatives, while the EPRDF has 481 members. The EPRDF, which ousted former leader Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 after a 17-year guerrilla war, won 481 seats in the 547-seat assembly in the last national elections in 2000. The next Ethiopian general elections are only the third democratic ballot in the country’s history.
ADDIS ABABA (IRIN) – Federal elections in one of Ethiopia’s nine regions are to be delayed until several months after the rest of the country has voted, officials said on Thursday.
Tesfaye Mengesha, deputy head of the country’s National Election Board, said the postponement of the polls in the Somali Region was due to the nomadic nature of the population and scarce resources. But the move has been criticised by some opposition groups, who called for the entire elections to be delayed while “proper preparations” are put in place.
“This is unacceptable,” said Beyene Petros, vice chairman of the 14-party opposition coalition group, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces.
“We can see room for irregularities like double voting as people from certain parts of the country move to other areas,” he said. “The proper preparations are not there so we think the elections should be postponed.”
Somali Region in eastern Ethiopia has a population of around 3.4 million people, many of whom are nomadic herders who travel vast distances with their animals. It also shares a 1,600 km border with Somalia. An estimated 1.8 million people in the region are expected to vote.
Tesfaye said while the election was scheduled for 15 May, the polls in Somali region were likely to take place in July or August. He emphasised that the results from the rest of the country where more than 38 million people are expected to vote would be announced as scheduled on 8 June.
“Most of the people are nomadic and not settled so we have to use a mobile registration system and to apply this system we have to use huge manpower and many vehicles,” he said. “We have to finish the election process in the rest of the country and transfer the resources to Somali Region.”
Tesfaye added: “It is because of our capacity. We have no manpower. We do not have sufficient vehicles.”
The delay also caused some surprise within the international community, which is monitoring the election process and has pledged US $7
million.
The Ethiopian government has already invited election observers from Russia, China, Japan and the European Union to monitor polling. One western diplomat told IRIN: “We will be raising this with the National Election Board.”
Ethiopia’s legislative branch consists of a bicameral parliament: the 110-seat House of the Federation and the 547-seat lower chamber, the House of People’s Representatives. The general elections would be only the third democratic ballot in the country’s history.
