The Unity for Democracy and Justice party has the only opposition member in Ethiopia’s 547-seat parliament. But it is unclear if the party will be allowed to participate in the May elections, as the National Election Board has rejected UDJ logos.
Wondimu Golla of the National Election Board said it was not about the logos, but about procedural rules.
“According to their bylaws it says, the
The National Election Board has given UDJ two weeks to organize a general assembly, and if its conduct is approved the party will be allowed to participate in the May elections. But the UDJ has decided to not hold another general assembly.
UDJ vice chairman Girma Seifu — the only member of parliament not affiliated with Ethiopia’s ruling party — said the election board’s actions were not justified.
“They do not have any legal ground or moral ground or administrative guideline to do these things. Because this is just an interference just to put a block on our active participation in the election,” said Seifu.
Voter
The Blue Party, formed in 2012, will be contesting elections for the first time. Blue Party chairman Yilkal Getnet said he was pessimistic about the elections as the party has repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to work with the election board on certain issues.
“They are reluctant, and they did not give us any positive report or signs to improve these things. We did not get any signs that improve the political climate. Now for the coming elections to be free and fair we need to discuss about the political climate, to have a free media, to have international observers to observe the election, and including the budget sharing systems, and so on,” said Getnet.
During the 2005 elections opposition parties won about a third of the seats, but accusations of vote rigging led to mass demonstrations in which at least 200 protesters died and thousands were arrested.
The ruling Ethiopia’s Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front has been in power since the overthrow of the military junta in 1991.
Source: VOA News
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4 Responses to “Ethiopian Opposition Faces Difficulty in Entering Upcoming Elections”
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Pls dont west the Time and mony.we can to bulde huge Hospital or road..etc:by this election mony.
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You are told to go to the bush the way they did to colonize Oromia. If you cant do that, please shut up. If you are man enough, act like a man instead of crying the way babies cry over somebody’s doll.
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The problem is Oromo couldn’t moblize itself along its cause. We always mix up things. We talk about election when we are under colony. Another time we cry about land grabbing and Finfinnee master plan when all our problem originates from our being colonized. We, Oromos, couldn’t swallow the pill that social scientist had prescribed for
similar problemall over the world similar to the problem of Oromo. The pill is bullet! Nothing else! -
The Oldies are already retired and are incapable to go to the bush and fight like their Slave owners did; The youngster’s balls are there,but needs some stimulant to function, but no one dares to be a stimulant. Hence, Tigre is marching forward with out difficulty. They are infact smart evils in achieveing their objectives by dividing the people along ethnic lines and then creating hatred one after the other, and even with in the same ethnic line.How those lame Opposition parties think they would be competitive while they clearly understand the mischieves Tigre regime did to the past 3 or more elections. I think there are some people out there (officias),who are gaining some income from the public who contributes to the party so that the party won’t die out.
Posted by admin - 14/01/2015 at 12:08 pm