ETHIOPIA: VOTE COUNTING BEGINS IN ETHIOPIA ELECTION WHICH EU OBSERVERS SEEA S FREE AND FAIR

Record ID: 328726

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: VOTE COUNTING BEGINS IN ETHIOPIA ELECTION WHICH EU OBSERVERS SEEA S FREE AND FAIR
  • Date: 15th May 2005
  • Summary: (BN10) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY 15, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SLV PEOPLE QUEUING (2 SHOTS) 0.05 2. SLV OF PEOPLE QUEUING 0.08 3. SV/CU OF SEPARATE MALE AND FEMALE QUEUES (3 SHOTS) 0.21 4. SLV WOMAN VOTER CARRYING BABY 0.25 5. CU/SV OF HAILU SHAWEL, OPPOSITION COALITION FOR UNITY AND DEMOCRACY (CUD) BOSS, VOTING (2 SHOTS) 0.34 6. MCU (English) HAILU SHAWEL, OPPOSITION COALITION PRESIDENT, SAYING: "To me it means a change for Ethiopia, a brighter future hopefully and a day when people try to realise that they can change the government and not through the gun." 0.50 (W3) DUUKAM VILLAGE, ETHIOPIA (MAY15,2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 7. SLV/CU PEOPLE VOTING (4 SHOTS) 1.06 (W3) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY15,2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 8. MCU (English) EUROPEAN UNION CHIEF OBSERVER, ANA GOMES SAYING: "There is no public disorder and people are massively turning out. They are very much keen to vote, they think that indeed this time is different and they are actually going through the pain of waiting patiently to exercise their vote." 1.24 9. SV ANA GOMES TALKING TO JOURNALISTS 1.29 10. MCU (English) EUROPEAN UNION CHIEF OBSERVER, ANA GOMES SAYING: "We have few disturances reported, they are localised and in our case, I think they could be overcome." 1.46 (W3) DUUKAM VILLAGE, ETHIOPIA (MAY15,2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. SV/SLV OF ELECTION OFFICIALS (2 SHOTS) 1.51 (BN11) ADOWA, ETHIOPIA (MAY 15, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. SLV/SV PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI ARRIVING AT POLLING STATION (2 SHOTS) 1.56 13. SLV CROWD 2.00 14. SV ZENAWI VOTES (2 SHOTS) 2.14 15. SV CROWDS CHEERING 2.18 16. SV ZENAWI GETS IN CAR 2.23 (W5) ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY15,2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 17. SLV PARTY REPRESENTATIVES WAITING FOR THE BALLOT BOXES 2.28 18. SV/CU OF BALLOT BOX (2 SHOTS) 2.37 19. SV OF OFFICIAL TAKING VOTES FROM BALLOT BOX 2.42 20. SV OFFICIAL CUTTING THE TAG FROM THE BALLOT BOX 2.46 21. CU MAN WATCHING 2.50 22. COUNTING OF THE BALLOT PAPERS 23. SV OFFICIAL SHOWING EMPTY BALLOT BOX 2.55 24. CU/SV PEOPLE WATCHING WHILST THE BALLOTS ARE COUNTED (10 SHOTS) 3.38 25. CU PEOPLE TAKING NOTES 3.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ADDIS ABABA, DUUKAM VILLAGE, ADOWA, ETHIOPIA
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Reuters ID: LVABK7XSXV66GIZSU43EWPKGRLTO
  • Story Text: Vote counting begins in Ethiopian election which EU
    observers see as free and fair.




    Millions of Ethiopians went to the polls on Sunday
    (May 15) in parliamentary elections widely expected to give
    Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling coalition a third
    five-year term.

    The polls, only the second real multi-party contest in
    Africa's top coffee producer, will test how democratic it
    has become since Prime Minister Meles Zenawi toppled dictator Mengistu
    Haile Mariam in 1991 ending 17 years of
    Marxist rule.

    Meles' Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
    Front (EPRDF) is widely favoured to win a third five-year
    term, but analysts say the ruling party's parliamentary
    majority may slip under pressure from opposition candidates.

    Opposition parties advocating a bigger role for free
    markets in the Horn of Africa country of 72 million have
    set aside their ethnic differences for the first time,
    pledging to unite if it means winning a majority in the
    547-seat national assembly.

    Opposition candidates say their supporters have been
    harassed, beaten and detained in the run up to the polls.

    Five main opposition parties and coalitions have set
    aside their differences to form one of the strongest
    alliances yet to challenge Prime Minister Zenawi.

    "To me it means a change for Ethiopia, a brighter
    future hopefully and a day when people try to realise that
    they can change the government and not through the gun."
    said Hailu Shawel, the president of the opposition
    Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) after casting his
    ballot.

    But many analysts say a victory over Meles's dominant
    EPRDF is unlikely, given that the opposition currently
    holds a mere 20 seats in a 547-member federal parliament.

    In Addis Ababa the stream of voters swelled throughout
    the morning at polling stations dotted among the capital's
    mist-shrouded hills as church services ended and
    worshippers turned up to cast their ballots.

    "There is no public disorder and people are massively
    turning out. They are very much keen to vote, they think
    that indeed this time is different and they are actually
    going through the pain of waiting patiently to exercise
    their vote." European Union (EU) chief observer Ana Gomes
    told reporters.

    Officials said voting might be extended to midnight
    (2100 GMT)because of the queues at polling stations.

    Bereft of experience at the polls and subject to what
    they call harassment by ruling party cadres, opposition
    candidates have yet to mobilise grassroots support in rural
    areas, which is critical to their success, diplomats and
    analysts say.

    Nor does the opposition have a clear leading
    personality to challenge former guerrilla chief Meles,
    whose tough speeches have compared the opposition to
    Rwanda's ethnic Hutu Interahamwe militias and raised the
    spectre of ethnic bloodshed.

    The opposition has accused the government of trying to
    rig elections, vowing to reject the results unless the
    EPRDF stops harassing its supporters. The government denies
    the charges.

    Observers say the election has been more competitively
    fought than polls in 2000 won by the EPRDF. The opposition
    boycotted polls in 1995, saying freedom to campaign was
    curbed.

    This time the opposition has access to state media, and
    its members have taken part in live televised debates.

    The main opposition coalitions say they would create
    jobs by freeing-up the state controlled economy through
    privatisation and ending state ownership of land,
    Ethiopia's greatest asset.

    The government insists the state must own land, arguing
    it gives more security to farmers and that farmers who sold
    their land would be tempted to flock to poverty-stricken
    slums.

    Provisional results are due on May 21 and official
    results on June 8.

    Despite the late start to voting, the voting concluded
    without incident Sunday evening and counting of votes
    started.

    Now party officials are waiting for word on how the
    voting had gone. Officials announcements on the the result
    are not expected until June 8.



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