June 23,2015
In defiance of speculations that the ruling TPLF/EPRDF party would try to make the outcome of the election not to sound too nonsense to believe by making arrangements to give away some seats to the opposition, the electoral board officially decleared that all the 546 seats in the parliament is taken by the ruling coalition TPLF/EPRDF.
Ethiopia’s election board chairman, Mega Beqena, is quoted by AFP as saying “”The performance of the ruling party is good but the competition was strong”
Ethiopia’s election board is widely seen as a partisan legal instrument for the ruling party.The election was not observed by entities like the European Union representatives and other western states or institutions. A statement issued by the US State Department expressed regret that US diplomats were restricted from observing the election.
Ethiopian opposition parties vowed not to accept out come of the election after preliminary result was disclosed a week after the election.
Opposition accuse the government that there was widespread repression against members and supporters of opposition party during the election process and about four deaths were reported.
Even weeks after preliminary result was announced, Semayawi party opposition candidate, Samuel Awoke, was stabbed to death in Debre Markos , North Western Ethiopia. Barely two days after the incident, Arena – ethnic based opposition in the ethnic base of Tigray People’s Liberation Front – reported that one of its member is killed in Tigray region.
The Ethiopian opposition won a single seat in the 2010 general election. In this election, there is no even a single opposition seat in the parliament and the ruling party claimed a clean 100 % win. Some observers likened the result with the electoral process in North Korea.
Despite the level of repression in Ethiopia does seem to have nearly no rival in Africa, the ruling party continues to receive support in the form of donations and loans from multilateral institutions and powerful countries including USA. Obama is scheduled to visit Ethiopia next month and is expected to meet with leadership in Ethiopia.
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