What next after Ethiopian opposition takes over Addis Ababa?

By Anaclet Rwegayura

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 21, 2005 (PANA) — The National Electoral
Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has released provisional
results of parliamentary elections held last Sunday,
confirming the victory of the opposition in the
capital Addis Ababa.

Candidates of the opposition Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD) swept all nine constituencies
under the city administration to replace the
Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) that had enjoyed powers of patronage over the
city for the last 14 years.

However, the deputy head of the NEBE secretariat,
Tesfaye mengesha, said the results could be subject
to change before formal approval by the Board on 8
June 2005.

He said the Board released the results as published
by constituency electoral offices.

Though observers described last week’s election as
Ethiopia’s freest ever, it was also the toughest for
the ruling EPRDF, which faced stiff competition with
the opposition, particularly in urban areas.

Opposition parties fielded more candidates than in
the previous multiparty polls of 1995 and 2000 for
regional councils and the House of People’s
Representatives (national parliament).

But as Ethiopia inches its way to a modern democracy,
after centuries of monarchical rule and two decades
of
a Marxist regime, its inhabitants have a blurred
vision of the political and economic landscape ahead.

In an interview with a local weekly, The Sub-Saharan
Informer, CUD chairman Hailu Shawel, who is a
professional engineer, has promised to build a rail
network to link the hilly capital and its environs.

Overall, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia
has opened up the political space and registered
commendable progress in many development fronts.

More schools have been built, roads improved and
access to water and electricity supply extended to
many people over the past decade. Addis Ababa, too,
has been given an attractive skyline and new wider
streets.

Then why should the EPRDF get booted from the
capital? What is quickly perceived from the public is
that the opposition has turned the tables in the
capital pivoting on the people’s disgruntlement.

They accuse the EPRDF administration of favouring
Meles’ homeboys in business, allocation of building
plots, access to bank credit and almost everything
that means comfortable life, including executive
positions.

“Meles is a very intelligent person. But I think his
leadership is good for the rest of Africa, not
here,” a local taxi driver told PANA.

He complained about high tax rates, heavy fines for
minor traffic offences, and the lowering of secondary
education from 12th to 10th grade.

Ethiopia still has a long way to go to be seen as a
perfect democracy.

In the run-up to the polls, the opposition complained
of unfair play, particularly in rural areas, where
EPRDF officials and supporters allegedly intimidated
and harassed their opponents.

Already one pressure group, the New York-based Human
Rights Watch (HRW), has asserted that such acts
rendered the vote in Oromia region a “hollow
exercise.”

CUD and United Ethiopia Democratic Forces (UEDF) have
complained that their observers were barred from some
polling stations by government officials on election
day.

In the view of CUD vice chairman, Berhanu Nega, this
year’s election has shown that the Ethiopian people’s
commitment to democracy is unparalleled.

“It was a referendum on the ruling party,” he added.

Some of the contesting parties, including the EPRDF
and CUD, jumped the gun to declare their victory in
certain constituencies and NEBE has reacted saying
those announcements were not official

Tesfaye said Friday that further results would be
issued in the coming days.

Vote counting and verification should be finalised by
8 June, the date set by NEBE for declaration of
the official results from all constituencies.

Until then, tension continues to grip the nation
as major opposition parties insisted that they had
gained more ground from EPRDF strongholds.

In fact, Berhanu told journalists this week that CUD,
after campaigning on the platform of land
privatisation, was heading for a “famous victory.”

On its part, the ruling party maintains it has
decisively overrun the opposition to secure the
people’s mandate to form the next federal government.

Politics is always a tricky game, even in Ethiopia,
where gaining power through the ballot rather than
the barrel of the gun is just beginning to interest
the population.