/ 13 May 2005

Campaigning wraps up in Ethiopia

Campaigning in Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections officially ended on Friday ahead of a weekend vote that will be a critical test of freedom and democracy in one of the United States’s closest allies in Africa.

For the first time, international observers will monitor the balloting, which marks the end of a race that has tested the tolerance of a sometimes authoritarian regime that has ruled the Horn of Africa nation since 1991.

Almost everyone in the country considers Sunday’s election a test of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s pledge to introduce greater democracy in the country of 70-million.

The election campaign — the third in Ethiopia’s 3 000-year history — has generally been peaceful and opposition parties have had unprecedented access to the media and have staged massive rallies in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Opposition parties have complained about the fairness of the process, but European Union election observers and diplomats have praised the elections for their openness compared with the 2000 vote, when the ruling coalition took 534 of 547 seats in the Lower House of Parliament.

”This is the election where we have had the highest interest both on behalf of the electorate and on the part of international observers; it’s been the longest electoral campaign in this country,” Zenawi said.

”For me, it is the maturation of the emerging democracy we have in this country.”

But there have been problems, and both the ruling coalition and opposition groups have filed complaints, said National Electoral Board chairperson Kemal Bedri. He said no action has been taken against the parties because all the incidents appeared to be the acts of individuals.

In a confidential report, EU election observers said they witnessed ruling-party supporters using violence to break up opposition rallies and intimidate voters. Opposition parties have accused ruling-party supporters of killing eight people and police of jailing opposition organisers.

”It is far away from the free and fair elections the government promised,” said Berhanu Nega, vice-chairperson of the main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy. ”They thought they would open it a little bit and maybe they would increase the seats of the opposition … and it would give them legitimate international recognition.”

Nega said he now believes the opposition has a real chance of winning control of Parliament, and the government is responding by reneging on its promise of a fair election.

Legitimacy

Legitimacy is important to Meles, who has a reputation for being one of the more progressive leaders in Africa. Ethiopia has also become one of the US’s closest allies and a key player in the war on terrorism.

With the US administration placing a high value on freedom and democracy and saying the US will no longer put up with authoritarian allies, Ethiopia must demonstrate at least some progress in this election.

Following a US State Department report critical of the government’s human rights record, three US election groups were expelled from the country last month for administrative reasons. A series of foreign press reports about human rights violations resulted in officials trying to intimidate local reporters working for international media agencies.

Despite those and other problems, the head of the EU observer mission recently praised state radio and television for giving the opposition 54% of the air time dedicated to election coverage, and the head of the EU delegation said this week he was impressed with how well voters in rural areas were informed about the elections.

More than 25-million people have registered to vote, and the electoral board predicts 90% of them will cast their ballot in one of 34 000 polling stations. Provisional results will be announced in each polling station on Monday and official results will be certified on June 8.

While opposition support is strong in the capital, 85% of Ethiopia’s population live in rural areas, and a large percentage is illiterate. The country is divided into nine states along ethnic and linguistic lines.

Ethnicity

The degree ethnicity should play in the government is one of the biggest issues in the election. The ruling party, which drafted the Constitution in 1994, supports ”ethnic federalism” where each state has a degree of autonomy and the Upper House of Parliament is elected along state lines.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy advocates greater say for the national administration, while the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces wants greater autonomy for the states. Nevertheless, the two opposition groups have agreed to form a coalition government if they win enough seats on Sunday.

Economic policy and land ownership are two other important issues, with the government wanting to keep the financial sector and all land in government hands.

Western diplomats have made little secret of their moderate expectations for the vote, which few think the opposition will win.

Compared to the 1995 single-party election and the 2000 multiparty election, the 2005 election is a significant step forward, analysts and diplomats have said.

Nega, though, said not demanding fully free and fair elections is unfair to Ethiopians.

”The underlying presumption is that these monkeys are not ready for an election, that we don’t understand what real democracy is,” he said. ”What makes us human is precisely this search for freedom, this internal yearning for living a life that is free of oppression … we all have that in common.” — Sapa-AP