Ethiopian govt accuses opposition of stalling probe into poll fraud
ADDIS ABABA, July 23, 2005 (Xinhua) — Ethiopia’s Ministry of Information Saturday accused opposition parties of “prolonging the complaint investigation process” of the country’s parliament election.
The ministry said in a weekly statement that the opposition parties, such as the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), are engaged in extensive “defamatory campaigns” targeting the legal status of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).
The statement charged CUD and other opposition parties are portraying the complaint investigation as “in jeopardy,” although the process has “faced no serious impediments so far.”
Ethiopians went to poll on May 15 in the country’s two separate elections to elect representatives to the House of People’s Representatives and eight regional councils. Elections for the 23 constituencies of the Somali regional state will take place on Aug. 21.
On July 8, partial official results, released by NEBE, showed the ruling party and its smaller political allies won 158 seats to 148 seats for the opposition coalitions in the 547-seat lower house of parliament.
NEBE started the investigations after police shot dead at least 36 people during a protest against alleged electoral fraud.
On Tuesday, CUD, the country’s largest opposition party, said in a statement that NEBE had rigged from the investigations into irregularities in 139 of the 524 seats contested in the May 15 parliamentary polls.
Meanwhile, NEBE said official results would be announced as of early next week, except of those under investigation.
Ethiopia has a two-house parliament: the 110-seat upper House of the Federation and the 547-seat lower House of People’s Representatives.