Ethiopian opposition party boycotts 2nd round of elections

April 16, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — Another opposition party announced Wednesday it will boycott Ethiopia’s second round of local elections due to rigging and intimidation, further damaging the democratic credentials of the key U.S. ally.

Bulcha Demeksa, head of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement, said observers were banned from polling stations, voters threatened by ruling party officials and canvas ballot bags stuffed with ballots during the first round of elections on April 13.

Those problems led the party, which says it represents Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, to withdraw from the second round of elections on April 20.

National election official Tesfaye Mengesha said he was unaware of the decision.

Bulcha previously told The Associated Press that 3,000 of his party’s candidates had been intimidated into withdrawing their candidacies, echoing criticisms of state harassment made by the international rights group Human Rights Watch before the polls.

He also disputed the National Electoral Board’s estimate of 90% voter turnout, saying he believed it to be less than 50%.

“We thought some halfway decent election would be carried out,” he said. “We didn’t think the (ruling party) would go that far.”

Bulcha said none of the candidates who ran during the first round won their seats.

Last week, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, the nation’s largest opposition group, also pulled its 6,000 candidates out of the election, alleging that some 14,000 of their candidates had been forced to drop out.

Before the boycotts, some 4.5 million candidates had registered for 4 million open seats, at every level from neighborhood council to parliament. Of those candidates, nearly 4 million represented the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.

Opposition leaders say they’re worried that the ruling party, which holds a vast majority in parliament and in local constituencies around the country, will come to dominate.

“I believe so very strongly we are heading for single-party rule in Ethiopia,” Bulcha said.

Ethiopia’s strong military and large population make it a regional powerhouse. It is a key U.S. ally in the war on terror and allows foreign suspects to be flown in from abroad for interrogations.

But its government faces a barrage of international criticism over its human rights record. After the 2005 general elections, security forces killed 193 protesters.

(AP)