Zenawi mulls rerunning elections as solution for capital council row
Feb 4, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said that the possibility of a rerun election for the Addis Ababa City Council was high and added that if this was to be held, it won’t be “within a few weeks or months.”
On Thursday 2 February, presenting a mid-term performance report of the government to the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Meles noted that “The government is coming to the conclusion that a rerun election should be conducted in Addis.”
This is the first time the government evoke such option. But according to the Reporter this alternative is not yet definitive. Meles told the parliamentarians that a rerun was not inevitable and implied that there was still some room for other options.
The Ethiopia’s National Electoral Board (NEB) at the end of January was considering extending deadlines for the registration of elected council members of the Addis Ababa City Council as a solution for this crisis.
A rerun election would be held because the public should be administered by the people it elected and the ones it elected earlier had failed to assume the responsibility of administering the city, Meles noted.
The board had earlier called upon the elected Councillors to register at the board so that the city could have its elected administration. The move was, however, futile because it was only 54 electees that came and registered, falling short of the required number, 70.
The subject of the Addis Ababa Council would be referred to the Federal Parliament for final decision. But Zenawi failed to set an exact timetable for a rerun if this option was to be taken.
“The government understands that holding elections in a few weeks or months will have its own shortcomings,” he said.
Lidetu Ayalew, president of the Ethiopian Democratic Unity Party-Medhin (EDUP-Medhin), strongly objected to the idea of a rerun in Addis Ababa. He said such moves would re-establish the ruling party in the former administration of the city because it would be few supporters of the regime that would be willing to vote in the rerun. He also indicated that there should be more time to decide on the matter.
Speculations are, however, rife in the city that Lidetu objected to the idea of rerun because he believed his party wouldn’t be able to collect as many seas as it did in the May 2005 elections, the Reporter said.
The prime minister also reiterated the government’s decision to pursue legal means for the political problems surfacing in the country. He, however, said the government would continue to sit at a roundtable with the opposition parties that took a “peaceful path” and assured the MPs that the building of democratic institutions would continue.
Prof. Beyene Petros said it was uncommon for any government to say that the time for dialogue had gone by. Lidetu also noted that the government should work towards political solutions.
(Reporter/ST)