Ethiopia’s ruling party stays ahead as new poll results are released
ADDIS ABABA, July 26 (AFP) — Ethiopia’s ruling party has maintained its lead as the election commission released Tuesday more results of the disputed May 15 legislative elections.
Of the results released so far, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and allied parties won 263 seats against the opposition’s 172.
The returns from 435 constituencies account for about 80 percent of the 524 constituencies in which elections were held in May.
The EPRDF and allied parties are now 11 seats short of having an absolute majority in the National Assembly composed of 547 members. The absolute majority mark is 274.
The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is expected to organise elections in August in 23 constituencies in the eastern Somali state that did not take part in May polls owing to logistical glitches.
Ethiopians are still waiting for the final results of May’s legislative elections, which the board said would be announced after the Somali region polls.
“There is no official date for the announcement of the final results. It will certainly be after the August 21 elections in Somali state,” NEBE’s chief Kemal Bedri told reporters here.
Results from the May polls have been a subject of bitter dispute between the government and the opposition that degenerated into street protests in which 37 people died and several others wounded in the capital Addis Ababa.
Both camps have claimed victory amid allegations of poll fraud and the election board, which is currently investigating disputed results from 74 constituencies, said the probe has delayed the announcement of final results.
“I wish that the parties that took part in the process would have been responsible enough, serious enough to bring serious complaints with evidence. Unfortunately they did not,” Kemal said.
On Monday, the panel said it would organise repeat elections in at least 15 constituencies around the vast Horn of Africa nation, home to about 70 million people.
Earlier this month, the panel released results from 307 constituencies that gave the EPRDF 159 seats in parliament against the opposition’s 148.
The elections were the third multiparty polls since Meles ousted the brutal regime of Mengistu Haille Mariam in 1991.