Ethiopian opposition claims to be heading for victory

ADDIS ABABA, May 18 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s opposition umbrella Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) claimed Wednesday to be heading for victory after hotly contested weekend polls.

Coalition for Unity and Democracy supporters give the party’s victory sign and wave Ethiopian flags, Sunday, May 8, 2005 during an election rally in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. (AP).

“The CUD is very happy to inform all concerned that it has won in most of the constituencies where the ballots have been counted,” coalition vice-president Berhanu Nega said.

“We have so far won all or majority seats in Addis Ababa and Amhara region,” he told a joint press conference with the other main opposition group, the United Ethiopian Democratic Front (UEDF).

Between them, the two said they had taken 203 seats in the some 250 constituencies where counting had been completed.

It was the latest in a series of claims and counter-claims by the CUD and the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) which have brought criticism from international observers.

No final official result is due until Saturday from the elections, which saw a 90 percent turnout.

The elections were the vast, impoverished Horn of Africa country’s third since the 1991 fall of a Soviet-backed dictatorship, the second since the advent of multi-party politics and the first under international scrutiny.

Late Monday, the EPRDF said it had won with an overwhelming majority, but conceded losing most seats in the capital.

“Election in the urban areas significantly favoured the opposition, but in the rural areas, we were favoured,” party election campaign spokesman Berekat Simon said.

The European Union reprimanded the rival parties for their premature announcements.

“The EU election observation mission thinks that these announcements are not proper and will continue to follow the counting and tabulation closely,” Anna Gomes, head of the EU observer mission here, said Tuesday.

Berhanu said Wednesday, “We urge the public to desist from being influenced by the false and insubtantial claims and await the final results with vigilance.”

He and UEDF Vice President Beyene Petros repeated opposition charges of fraud, saying there had been irregularities in the vote counting.

“We are facing a serious blocking of the counting of the ballots,” Beyene said, while Berhanu alleged the EPRDF and the government were trying to appropriate ballot boxes.

“Any and all attempts to thwart and tamper with the appropriate proceedings in the conduct of the election results … will be resisted,” he said.

Officials of the National Election Board of Ethiopia could not confirm any result, either for the opposition or the ruling party, until Saturday, but said the parties had the right to express what they felt of the polls.

In the last parliament, the EPRDF had 481 of the 547 seats, with all but 12 of the rest being held by allies of the ruling party.

The CUD, an alliance of four parties, was only created at the end of last year, and therefore has no seats in the outgoing assembly.