Disputed poll results heighten tension in Ethiopia
By Abebe Gelaw
Aug 10, 2005
ADDIS ABABA - The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), Chaired by Kemal Bedri, who is also President of the Federal Supreme Court and President of the Council for Constitutional Inquiry in the upper chamber of parliament, the House of Federation, has officially declared the ruling party winner of the May 15th elections amidst accusations and counter accusations of vote rigging
The news was greeted with indifference and melancholy, as this was a widely anticipated outcome even before the elections were held. There was no televised victory party or live interview with the unpopular Prime Minister who has added "five more years" to his 14-year tenure in the heavily fortified but opulent Grand Palace.
Opposition leaders were quick to reject not only the official election results but also the NEBE, which they accused of complicity with the ruling party in vote rigging. Chairman of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), Hailu Shawel, accused the EPRDF and the NEBE of daylight robbery in the "most illegitimate process ever."
"It is the most illegitimate process I have ever seen in my life where the winner is declared the loser and the absolute loser is declared the winner," he told AFP.
Dr. Merera Gudina, Chair of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, added to the chorus of condemnations saying the NEBE proved itself to be a vassal for the ruling party and any election results it issued were null and void. Dr. Merera told the VOA that his party will continue its struggle through all peaceful and non-violent means until the will of the people is respected. He called on the government to reconsider the opposition’s proposal for the establishment of an interim government, mandated to call a fresh general election, as a viable option to end the serious political crisis facing the nation.
The ruling party ignored the complaints of the opposition and issued a statement through the mass media reiterating its desire to form federal and state governments. It warned opposition parties that “anti-constitutional” moves would not be condoned and rejected the call for an interim government.
Though the opposition parties are considering to take legal actions, the likelihood of succeeding in overturning NEBE’s announcement is extremely remote. Last June the Federal Supreme Court, presided by chief justice Kemal Bedri, overturned a ruling of the Federal High Court that accepted the illegality of NEBE's announcements of disputed and unverified election results. In the absence of an independent judiciary, suing NEBE is not only costly but also a futile excise.
The ruling elite and the opposition appear to have failed to come up with a common framework that can bring about a peaceful end to the bitter political disputes. Under the current circumstances, the formation of a new government by the ruling elite adds another twists and turns in Ethiopia’s uncertain future. On the opposite ends of the political spectrum, the EPRDF and the opposition have already expressed their irreconcilable differences heightening tensions and uncertainty in Ethiopia.
The ruling party feels that as long as it has a monopolistic command over the military, the police, the security, the mass media and the national treasury the struggle of the opposition to resist its rule will be arduous and testing. Despite all that, the power of civil disobedience cannot be underestimated given the massive public support that the opposition command.
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