Ethiopian opposition says EU election observers too little, too late

ADDIS ABABA, March 23 (AFP) — A European Union team observing Ethiopia’s upcoming election is too small and has come too late to make any difference, according to opposition leaders who believe the vote will not be free and fair.

The first members of the 159-strong EU team arrived here on Saturday to monitor the May 15 polls, but the opposition says most of the damage has already been done.

“They have gotten here too late to make a difference,” Beyane Petros, the vice president of the opposition Ethiopian United Democratic Forces (EUDF).

“Voter registration has already been done, 90 percent of the electoral process has already been accomplished, there is nothing we can do now,” he said.

He accused the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of rigging the voting rolls, complaining that the party had issued two or three registration cards to many individuals, including children.

“Independent international observers should have witnessed all this,” said Beyane, whose party currently holds just seven of the 547 seats in parliament.

Berhanu Nega, vice president of Ethiopia’s second-largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, said he shared Beyane’s concerns and did not believe that only 159 EU observers could do an adequate monitoring job.

“At the end of the day the question will be how much they were able to see,” he said. “159 observers for 38,000 polling stations, will that be enough to set a sample that reflects reality?”

However, Berhanu added that at least the presence of the observers would send the “signal that the world is watching what is happening here”

Nine delegates from the EU are now in Addis Ababa, with another 50 due on April 15 and the others expected around May 10.

The May 15 election for the federal parliament and eight regional assemblies will be the first in Ethiopia ever to be monitored by international observers.

It will be the third nationwide poll since since Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s EPRDF came to power in 1991. The party now holds 481 seats in parliament.

Electoral officials say 77 parties have registered at least one candidate in at least one of the country’s 547 electoral districts and that 25 million voters are eligible to cast ballots.