Ethiopian electoral body says Carter report non-partisan
Sept 19, 2005 (ADDIS ABABA) — The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) says the final report released Sept 15 by the Carter Center regarding the third national election is indicative of the fact that the election holds a historic significance in the democratization of the country and thus is acceptable by the Board.
The Carter Center is a think tank founded by former President Jimmy Carter. Among its activities is to monitor elections in nascent democracies.
In a press conference he gave on Monday 19 September concerning the Report, NEBE Deputy Head Tesfaye Mengesha said the Center’s report indicated that the May 2005 Ethiopian election demonstrated significant advances in Ethiopias democratization process.
The main opposition parties the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) rejected the results and have not decided whether to take their seats in the parliament.
The Deputy Head said the report indicated some problems observed during the post election period.
However, Tesfaye added, the Board has resolved the problems through setting up a Complaints Review Bodies (CRB) and the Complaint Investigation Panels (CIPs).
The report listed out both the strong and weak points of the election, Tesfaye recalled, adding the report has indicated that Ethiopians vote for their representatives through a democratic and competitive election than ever before.
According to the Deputy Head the report has also indicated that the government had created favorable condition to enhance participation of opposition political parties by amending the electoral law.
While listing the weak points of the election, the Carter Center has said that the Board had banned local observers, Tesfaye said. However, he added, the ban was lifted by a court decision.
The report also indicated that opposition parties did submit a list of problems and allegations to the Center, however the provisional election results were approved as the allegations lacked sufficient evidence, Tesfaye said.
Tesfaye pointed out that the tension that surfaced after the election, delay in declaring provisional results and the complaints investigation process due to high number of complaints are listed as negative features of the election.
The Deputy Head sited the report as saying that complaints lodged by opposition parties, particularly during early period lacked sufficient evidences, adding, their witnesses also failed to support the complaints.
Concerning presentation of evidences, there were facts that the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU-EOM) was unable to hide, Tesfaye said, adding the Board shares the undeniable fact.
(ENA/ST)
– Full text of the statement of The Carter Center on the Ethiopian electionsis available at http://www.cartercenter.org/documents/2199.pdf