Fifteen arrested in Ethiopia election fraud probe, college pupils to vote

ADDIS ABABA, March 28 (AFP) — Fifteen people have been arrested for allegedly conspiring to illegally register children as young as three years old to vote in Ethiopia’s upcoming general elections, officials said Monday.

“Fifteen people are now behind bars pending further investigation,” said Tesfay Megesha, the deputy chief of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).

“They will be charged according to the electoral law,” he told reporters, adding the children involved in the scam would not be punished.

The 15 were detained in Hadia district, some 390 kilometers (240 miles) south of Addis Ababa, after authorities discovered that voter registration cards were being given to youngsters between three and 10 years old, NEBE said.

As a result of the attempted fraud, which occurred with the apparent complicity of local electoral officials, the board has ordered that all eligible voters in Hadia’s Gegera constituency must re-register if they wish to cast ballots in the May polls, it said.

NEBE chairman Kemal Bedri accused members of the opposition United Ethiopia Democratic Forces (UEDF) of seeking to discredit the work of the electoral board.

“The registration cards were distributed by people from the election center and by members of UEDF,” he said. “It (was done) with the intent to discredit the NEBE in its effort to conduct the election in a free and fair manner.”

Officials with the UEDF, which has in the past alleged that the electoral board is a pawn of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), flatly denied the charge.

“We are the ones who brought the case to the attention of the national election board, with photographic evidence,” UEDF chairman Deyene Petros told AFP, noting that just last week the group had complained about voter roll fraud with multiple registration cards being issued to people, including children.

He said that if any UEDF members were involved they would be punished.

Meanwhile, Kemal said that unlike in previous polls, Ethiopian college and university students would be allowed to vote, although they will have to cast their ballots in their home constituencies and not where they are studying.

The question of students voting in elections, which was barred in the past, had been a bone of contention between the EPRDF, which opposed it, the opposition, the election board and the students themselves.

In a related matter, the election board confirmed that it had registered former Ethiopian president Negasso Gidada as an independent candidate for the national parliament.

“As any citizen he has the right to run for election or to vote,” Kemal said. “We assessed his eligibility to run for election and, as he has qualified, we have registered him.”

Last weekend, after declaring his intention to stand for a seat in the legislature, Negasso was stripped of all benefits he had enjoyed as a former head of state, including free housing, bodyguards, medical care and a monthly stipend.

Some 25 million Ethiopians are eligible to cast ballots in the May 15 to elect a national parliament and eight regional assemblies. The newly elected federal lawmakers will then select a prime minister.

There are 1,845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independents running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547-member federal parliament.

The remaining 67 MPs — who represent Ethiopia’s eastern Somalia Regional State — will be chosen in elections in August.