No outright winner in Ethiopian polls – so far

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, July 26, 2005 (PANA) — With more than half of
the official results of Ethiopia’s parliamentary
elections declared on Tuesday, no political party or
coalition has won a majority of seats to form the next
government at federal level, the country’s electoral board
said here.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia released the
results for 128 federal parliament seats, bringing the
total number of officially declared seats so far to 435 in
the 547-seat House of Peoples’ Representatives whose
elections were held on 15 May.

So far, out of the declared seats, the ruling Ethiopian
Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has
won 241 seats.

The opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) won
108 seats, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) 51
seats and Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) 11
seats.

Seven smaller parties and one independent candidate have
won 24 seats, the board said.

Following the recommendations of the Complaint
Investigation Panels, the board has ordered a re-run of
the polls in 15 constituencies.

“All re-run elections will take place on 21 August
2005, on the same day (parliamentary) elections will
be held in the Somali Region,” board chairman Kemal
Bedri said.

There are 23 parliamentary constituencies in the Somali
region.

For the remaining 74 constituencies, Kemal said, official
results would be announced upon completion of the
investigation process in those constituencies.

On the slow process that the results of the polls have
taken, Kemal said: “It is not the speed by which you
tell the results but the accuracy. The people of
Ethiopia have to live with these results for the next
five years.”