News Feature

Newsletter 8

Democracy Taking Firm Roots

The May 15, 2005 election in Ethiopia has come to a successful conclusion following the announcement of final results of all constituencies by the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).

 Accordingly, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has won more than enough votes that enable it to form the Federal Government. Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Force (UEDF) the two major opposition groups, have won a considerable number of seats in the parliament.

The May elections have been characterized by a very high voter turn out and observers witnessed, as has the society, its being fair and democratic. 

A fair and democratic election is an expression of the nature of the political culture of the incumbent power and is the reflection of the state of democracy among the people who participate and highly contribute to develop the process.

 Elections are the main process through which people can manifest their wishes as to who should govern them and who should not. In freely conducted elections, the society determines who shall come to power to lead them in the path of progress.

 In this regard, essential preparations for a free and fair election have been made from the start. This was proved when the government rendered equal opportunity to all parties concerned, thus allowing them to forward their agenda on televised debates, after which more than 90% of the voters registered cast their ballots in a peaceful manner.

In a bid to conduct transparent elections and accommodate the interests of all parties to the elections, the incumbent government has invited international observers to monitor the fairness of the overall election process.

Thus, the Carter Center, the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU-EOM) and the African Union Observer Team participated in   monitoring the whole electoral process.

The Carter Center in its final statement on the observation of the Ethiopia National Elections released on September 15, 2005 has mentioned   the credibility of the May 15 polling and appreciated its reflection of competitive conditions.

With regard to the complaints by the parties that contested some of the results, the cases were separately reviewed by the Complaints Review Boards, and 44 Complaints Investigation Panels were formed to assess and pass decisions on such cases.

 While discussing preparedness and good will on the part of the ruling party, the Center's final statement noted that "the ruling party took the initiative to negotiate with the opposition and level the playing field, and agreed to a number of important electoral reforms that created conditions for more open and genuinely competitive process". 

The report by the AU Observer Team has appreciated the massive participation and the determination of the Ethiopian people expressed in the elections with the aim of establishing a civilized and democratic order.    

Released on 14 September 2005, the report of The Observer Team stated that the elections and investigation mechanisms of election irregularities were done based on the law of the country.  

Both the Carter Center and the AU commended the NEBE for its electoral preparations and successes in implementing the May 15 voting process.           

The EU-EOM report, on the other hand differed from the statements by the Carter Center and the AU Observer Team.  

The observation report issued by Ana Gomez, Chief of the EU Observation Mission, states that there were irregularities concerning the key elements to genuine elections.  

The same report states that there was intimidation of opposition party members and supporters, including witnesses to the investigation panels, allegations based on unsubstantiated reports coming from the opposition parties.  

For an observer mission to be effective, the Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) explains, the mission must differentiate between observed facts, reported incidents and unsubstantiated rumours. 

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi labled the report as partisan and characterized by inconsistency.  In his letter to the daily Ethiopian Herald on 28 August 2005 Meles criticized the EU-EOM report for understating the truth, lacking integrity and its being self-contradictory.  The opposition, however, welcomed the report as reflecting the reality. 

While election experts insist that non-partisanship and acting in an unbiased manner leading to sound judgment are essential elements of a successful observation mission, the EU-EOM report was widely rejected by the intelligentsias and the people at large for its bias and partisan nature. 

It is universally acknowledged, as is stated in the Carter Center's report, that ultimately it is the citizens who determine the credibility of the elections.