Ethiopian ruling party, allies short of majority for govt

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 26, 2005 (AP) — Official election results counted for more than three-quarters of the seats in parliament show Ethiopia’s ruling party and its allies are 11 seats short of the majority needed to form government, a senior election official said Tuesday.

The uncontested results of 435 seats of the 547-member lower house of the legislature gave 242 seats to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front while smaller, allied political parties have 22 seats, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the results have yet been officially released.

The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front and its allies need at least 274 seats to form Ethiopia’s next government.

Ethiopia’s main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, has won 108 seats while another opposition group, the United Ethiopian Democratic Front, has won 50, the official said.

Results could be announced later Tuesday, the official said.

The parliamentary poll held in May was followed by a large number of complaints of electoral fraud and discrepancies by both the ruling party and opposition groups, which led to protests last month in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Police fired on demonstrators, killing at least 36 of them.

Results for the remaining seats have been delayed pending fraud investigations and reruns of votes after complaints.