Ethiopia imposes rules barring thousands from monitoring elections
By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer
ADDIS ABABA, Apr 11, 2005 (AP) — Electoral authorities have imposed tough rules that effectively bar thousands of local observers from monitoring Ethiopia’s third-ever democratic election next month, an official said Monday
Authorities will only accredit monitors who were registered as poll observers when their organizations were first set up, said Netsanet Demissie, head of the Organization for Social Justice.
Poll monitors must also prove they are independent under rules announced last week, said Netsanet, whose group had planned to deploy 3,000 poll observers in elections set for May 15.
Only a handful of organizations hoping to monitor the elections would have originally registered as observers because the idea is a new phenomenon in Ethiopia, Netsanet said.
“This is definitely a setback for holding free and fair elections,” told The Associated Press.
Kemal Bedri, chairman of the National Election Board, said the new rules are intended to weed out organizations allied to political parties. Political parties, however, will field accredited observers.
“Domestic observers have a stake in the outcome of the election,” Kemal said. “We know that there are organizations who are a front for a political party, governing or opposition.”
Ethiopia had come under fire last month for expelling three American organizations promoting democracy, claiming they were operating illegally in the only African nation not to be colonized.
More than 25 million of Ethiopia’s 71 million people have registered to vote. Some 35 political parties will vie for seats in the 547-seat Council of People’s Representatives.
Voters will also elect representatives in nine regional state parliaments that appoint members of the 108-seat Council of the Federation, the upper house.
All the elections have been convincingly won by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. The governing party and affiliated parties hold 519 of 548 seats in the federal parliament.
Opposition parties already have accused the government of not providing a level playing field for the elections in which the ruling coalition is expected to prevail over the small, fragmented and underfunded opposition.