The second and final day of voting in Ethiopia’s local and parliamentary polls was held Sunday amid tight security, days after deadly blasts in the capital, Addis Ababa.
Three people were killed and 18 wounded when simultaneous bomb blasts went off at two petrol stations on April 14, a day after the first day of voting in the country’s first elections since the disputed 2005 general polls.
The authorities blamed the attacks on the separatist Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and beefed up security across the capital on Sunday, an Agence France-Presse correspondent reported.
The electoral board claimed a massive turnout of 95% in last week’s voting. The elections have been marred by accusations of repression against opposition parties, several of which have boycotted the ballot.
About 3,7-million candidates are competing for almost as many local council and parliamentary seats but the remaining opposition groups have only been able to field a few thousand contestants.
In a report issued earlier this month, New York-based Human Rights Watch condemned what it described as ”systemic patterns of repression and abuse that have rendered the elections meaningless in many areas”. — AFP
