Opposition CUD says ready to administrate Ethiopia’s capital
Jan 14, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Elected members of the Addis Ababa City Council have started to register with the Ethiopian electoral body, affirming their readiness to take over the administration of the city.
The electees, who won the May 15 elections representing the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), began to register with the National Electoral Board (NEB) following the latter’s call, through the state media, for the former to express their readiness to take over the administration of the capital.
Mekonnen Wondimu, head of Political Parties’ Registration Office with the NEB, told The Reporter that more than 20 electees had registered on Thursday and Friday adding that the lone electee of the ruling coalition EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front) to the City Council had not also registered.
Asked by the Reporter why the board made the call now after a long period of silence, Mekonnen replied, “A provisional coordinating committee of the electees presented a petition to the board and requested that we make a call for the electees to register. Admassu Gebeyehu is the committee’s main coordinator and it is as a response to this initiative that the board acted.”
However, Admassu and his allies have failed to register until The Reporter went to press.
Admassu and other political formations of the CUD put preconditions that should be met before they take over the city administration. They demanded the release of Berhanu Nega and 15 other members of the CUD who are currently behind bars.
Mekonnen said that the group led by Admassu want to join the Council as CUD electees. “The board has made it clear to them that there is no legally recognized party called CUD and that they can join the council as representatives of the four constituting parties of the CUD,” he added.
Mekonnen further noted that the NEB would facilitate the hand over of the administration if 70 of 138 elected of the city council get registered with the board. “If those who had registered number less than 70, then the NEB will inform to the House of Peoples’ Representatives that the majority reguired to form the city government has not been attained.”
(The Reporter/ST)