20,000 Ethiopians gather in capital’s central square for opposition rally
By ANTHONY MITCHELL
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 8, 2005 (AP) — Some 20,000 Ethiopians gathered in the capital’s central square on Sunday for the final rally by the main opposition group before legislative elections set for May 15.
Demonstrators said they would vote for the opposition because the ruling coalition had failed to combat poverty, create jobs and provide free health care and education for the country’s estimated 70 million people.
“It is time for change, this government has been in power for 14 years and we still have no jobs or money,” said Rasadana Getahun, 33, a computer scientist who has been searching for a job since graduating four years ago.
Magdus Agazay, a 28-year old mother of five, agreed. She said she would vote for the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy because they promised free education for all.
“I want to make sure my children can go to school, unlike me. Even now, after 14 years, children are not going to school,” Magdus said. “It is no good telling us that the government are building schools, because we see the children on the streets.”
The government has also said it built hospitals, but many Ethiopians are simply too poor to pay for health care, she said.
The main opposition group is wrapping up its election campaign a day after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi held an equally large final rally. He called for a peaceful vote during a carefully orchestrated gathering that was also broadcast on national television.
Opposition parties have accused the government of not providing a level playing field for the elections, in which the ruling coalition is expected to prevail over the small, fragmented and underfunded opposition.
The opposition said last month that its supporters have been killed, arrested, tortured and intimidated in the run-up to the polls.
Ethiopia last month expelled three American organizations promoting democracy — the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute and the International Foundation for Election Systems — on charges that they were operating illegally in Ethiopia.
Some 35 political parties will vie for seats in Ethiopia’s 547-seat lower house of parliament, the Council of People’s Representatives. Voters will also elect representatives in nine regional state parliaments that will appoint members of the 112-seat Council of the Federation, parliament’s upper house.
Two previous democratic elections were won by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.