Ethiopian government secures majority in regional parliaments

ADDIS ABABA, June 17 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s ruling coalition and its allies have swept to victory in eight regional parliaments, but lost the capital Addis Ababa to one of the two main opposition parties, the country’s electoral board has said.

The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took a majority of seats in Oromia, South Ethiopian Peoples’ State, Tigray and Amhara states, according to provisional results released late Thursday by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia.

Parties allied to the ruling coalition garnered a majority in Afar, Gambella, Benishangul-Gumuz and Harari regions.

But in the capital Addis Ababa, the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) won 135 of the 138 seats. The other opposition group, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) captured two while EPRDF got one.

The provisional results were released after the country’s supreme court overturned a ruling issued by a lower court, which on June 10 ruled that the release of provisional electoral results is “illegal” and ordered the electoral board to stop issuing such results.

It was the release of provisional results for the May 15 legislative elections showing a clear majority for the ruling party in the federal parliament that sparked large-scale protests in the streets of Addis Ababa, an opposition stronghold, with the opposition saying that the ruling party’s victory was obtained through large-scale fraud.

The demonstrations led to bloody clashes with police that left at least 36 people dead.

On Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi extended by one month a ban on demonstrations in the capital. The ban will now stay in place until at least July 8 when the national election board is scheduled to issue final results from the election.

The May 15 polls were the third since Meles came to power in 1991 and the first to be monitored by international observers.