From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Sun Nov 01 2009 - 15:13:11 EST
Can Ethiopia's Electoral Code Guarantee Fair Elections?
By Peter Heinlein
Addis Ababa
01 November 2009
Ethiopia's parliament is set to adopt an electoral code agreed on by Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party and three of the opposition groups
challenging his rule in elections next May. A coalition of eight other
parties boycotted negotiations on the code, saying it fails to address their
concerns that the system is rigged in the ruling party's favor. VOA's Peter
Heinlein in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa examines the possibilities
for a democratic opening in a country seen by many as a de facto one-party
state.
Prime Minister Meles sat down with three opposition politicians last week to
sign what was hailed as a landmark electoral Code of Conduct. Speaking in
Amharic through an interpreter, Mr. Meles said the agreement would guarantee
a level playing field for all competitors in upcoming parliamentary
elections.
"This is a document that puts us on an equal footing and puts obligations on
the two of us, which forces us to have an election that satisfies the
criteria for democracy," said Meles. "This is a great achievement."
The Code of Conduct appears to answer concerns voiced by the opposition and
the international community that Prime Minister Meles's Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front controls the electoral process.
Sitting next to Mr. Meles at the signing ceremony were three top members of
the old Coalition for Unity and Democracy, which mounted a powerful
challenge to Mr. Meles party in the 2005 parliamentary vote. That election
ended in violence, when CUD demonstrators were gunned down while protesting
that the election had been stolen. Many CUD leaders were charged with
inciting the violence and imprisoned for life. They were later pardoned.
But eight other opposition parties boycotted the Code of Conduct talks and
did not sign it, saying the agreement ignores the main issues. The eight,
which have formed a coalition called the Forum for Democratic Dialogue, say
fairness is impossible as long as the prime minister appoints the National
Electoral Board and the government maintains its tight control over the
media.
A former close associate of Prime Minister Meles, Gebru Asrat, is a
vice-chairman and spokesman for the Forum. He says two of the three
opposition parties that signed the Code of Conduct are moles with suspicious
ties to the government.
"The EPRDF has discussed with parties that seem to approve or endorse its
lines, not the serious parties that do challenge the EPRDF and do have
serious issues about the political space in the country," said Gebru Asrat.
"As far as we are concerned, nothing substantial has been discussed in this
negotiation. This is simply a ploy to show the diplomatic community that the
EPRDF is compromising with parties. Who are those parties? We know these
parties, except the Unity Party."
The All Ethiopian Unity Party led by Hailu Shewal is the one signatory to
the Code of Conduct widely acknowledged as a legitimate independent
political force. Engineer Hailu, as he is called, led the CUD to its
remarkable showing in the 2005 election, and was among those imprisoned
afterward.
In a VOA interview, Hailu admitted that many opposition supporters are
suspicious of his seeming closeness and conciliatory attitude toward Prime
Minister Meles, whose government convicted him of treason and sentenced him
to life in prison three years ago.
"I do not blame the people for being like that," said Hailu. "It is our
history. We came through all these problems. That is why we say 'our
discussions will continue'. Because there are nitty-gritty issues to solve,
and the people are concentrating on those nitty gritty issues. They suspect
we made a deal, they suspect we are taking advantage of something. Whatever
we did, we did it for the people. And it is our job to explain what we did,
to explain why we did it."
Hailu says he plans to make next May's election about core philosophical
issues, such as the government's control of the country's land resources.
Individuals have a right to own the country's land. To release the people's
energy they have to own something. They have to be aiming towards the
leaders of their own destiny. But in the case where the government controls
all the land, then there is no way that people can become what you call
rich, or live a decent life.
Hailu says his Unity Party is the only opposition group with a
near-nationwide support base. The Forum's support is seen as mainly among
Ethiopia's two largest ethnic groups, the Amharas and Oromos, which comprise
70 percent of the population. But the actual strength of the each group
remains untested.
The ruling EPRDF, on the other hand, can claim a nationwide party membership
of 4.5 million, and a resounding victory in last year's local council
elections. The U.S. State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report on Ethiopia
says of the 3.6-million seats contested, the EPRDF and its allied parties
won all but three.
The International Crisis Group recently issued a report concluding that "the
contradiction between [the EPRDF's] de-facto one-party state and its
promises to deliver multi-party elections ... has been a defining trait of
politics since [it came to power] in 1991."
In response, Ethiopia's foreign ministry called the ICG report 'malicious
propaganda' that contains extremely serious errors and takes an entirely
negative tone toward government policies'.
The Electoral Board has set December 8th as the formal start of the 2010
election campaign. Voting will be May 23.