Ethiopian ruling party mantains lead in parliamentary seats

ADDIS ABABA, June 26 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s ruling coalition is maintaining the lead in the May 15 hotly-contested parliamentary elections, the country’s electoral panel said on Sunday.

According to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), provisional results from the 519 constituencies gave the ruling Ethiopia’s People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) 303 seats.

In addition, parties allied to the EPRDF, which is led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, have so far won another 20 seats.

The opposition group Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) took 123 while another opposition party United Ethiopian Democratic Front (UEDF) got 56.

Other small parties opposed to the government got 16 seats while an independent candidate grabbed one seat.

The final electoral results for 524 constituencies are expected on July 8. The remaining results for five constituencies are from two states in the southern part of the vast Horn of Africa nation, according to the board.

The lower court had declared unlawful the release of provisional results while NEBE was probing hundreds of electoral complaints, but the country’s supreme court set aside the ruling pending an appeal.

Early this month, at least 36 people died when police battled thousands of demonstrators protesting over electoral violence in the country.

Meles responded by banning political demonstrations until the final results are announced

The May 15 polls were the third since Meles came to power in 1991 and the first to be monitored by international observers. Provisional results gave victory to EPRDF but with a greatly reduced majority, and opposition parties claim they were robbed by fraud.

The polls were the third multi-party elections and the first to be monitored by electoral observers.