Zenawi says incidents won’t mar Ethiopia vote as campaign ends

ADDIS ABABA, May 13 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s leader said Friday that scattered incidents during the run-up to weekend general elections would not mar the vote as the campaign ended with high praise from former US president Jimmy Carter.

And, amid an ongoing snag in sealing a polling day truce between Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling party and the two main opposition groups, donors to the impoverished aid-dependent country urged all sides to shun violence.

Meles, who is seeking a third mandate in Sunday’s election, allowed that there had been some violations of the country’s electoral code but told AFP they would not tarnish what he called an unprecedented fair and open process.

“This is, after all, a heated electoral campaign and it would be a miracle if there were to be no incident at all of violations,” he said in an interview in his Addis Ababa office.

“What I can say is that as a process it has been very open,” Meles said.

“Incidents here and there, either on the part of the opposition or of the ruling party, should in my view not diminish the significance of such a very transparent and open process.”

His comments came 48 hours before the polls open in Ethiopia’s third election since the 1991 fall of a Soviet-backed dictatorship, the second since the advent of multi-party politics and the first under international scrutiny.

They also followed the release of a series of scathing reports on Ethiopia’s human rights record, opposition complaints of widespread campaign intimidation and harrassment, and concerns about alleged abuses from election observers.

Meles, whose Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is heavily favored in the polls took strong issue with such criticisms, saying they were “lies” and probably politically motivated.

“These reports are coming fast on the heels of each other on the eve of the election; that alone seems to indicate that the timing itself is curious,” he said.

Former US president Jimmy Carter, the most prominent foreign election observer here, lauded Ethiopia’s democratic progress said there was no sign of any organized intimidation of the opposition.

Since the 1991 fall of a Soviet-backed dictatorship and two subsequent polls, Carter said Ethiopia had made “extraordinary” leaps in democratization and that he was “look(ing) forward to a very successful election” on Sunday.

“I think in this particular area of the world, if you compare it with Eritrea or Somalia or some others, the degree of democratization has been extraordinary,” he said.

Speaking after a meeting with Kemal Bedri, chief of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), Carter said he was aware of only unconfirmed reports of “isolated” incidents in rural areas.

“My best understanding at this point is that there is no pattern of intimidation or interference in the proper electoral procedures initiated by the national electoral board or other sources,” he said.

Meanwhile, as the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and United Ethiopian Democractic Forces (UEDF) balked at signing the non-violence pact, 22 donors said a peaceful vote and post-election period was key to development of the vast Horn of Africa nation.

“We urge all parties to promote a peaceful free and fair election and resolve difference through the courts and established complaints procedures,” they said in a statement.

“As Ethiopia’s partners in development, we condemn any resort to violence, not only before elections and on election day but also in the days, weeks and months post-election,” they said.

Some 26 million of Ethiopia’s 70 million poverty stricken inhabitants are registered to cast ballots for candidates in seven of eight state legislatures and 524 of the 547 parliamentary seats on Sunday.

In a bid to ensure the all those wanting to vote are able to, Ethiopian election officials on camels, pack animals and boats fanned out to some of the most remote areas in the vast nation to distribute ballots to about 200,000 isolated voters.

The NEBE said it had drafted 65 donkeys, 38 camels, 20 horses, 12 boats and 10 mules to carry workers, ballots, stamps, counting sheets and indelible ink to southwest Gambella and northern Amhara regions as well as the Simien Mountains in the north.