ETHIOPIA: Election will be rigged, say Ethiopian opposition

Record ID: 345783

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: Election will be rigged, say Ethiopian opposition
  • Date: 22nd May 2010
  • Summary: ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (MAY 20, 2010) (REUTERS BUSES FULL OF ETHIOPIAN PEOPLE'S REVOLUTIONARY DEMOCRATIC FRONT (EPRDF) SUPPORTERS DRIVING TO STADIUM EPRDF SUPPORTERS ABOARD BUS VARIOUS OF ETHIOPIAN SOLDIERS ON THE STREETS WIDE AND PAN OF EPRDF RALLY AT STADIUM SOLDIERS WALKING WITH CROWD IN BACKGROUND SUPPORTERS AT EPRDF RALLY BANNER AT RALLY OPPOSITION LEADERS' NEWS CONFERENCE MAN WAVING FLAGS AT SINGING SUPPORTERS VARIOUS OF SINGING SUPPORTERS CHAIRMAN OF OPPOSITION PARTY MEDREK, BEYENE PETROS, AT NEWS CONFERENCE REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF OPPOSITION PARTY MEDREK, BEYENE PETROS, SAYING: "Victory can simply only be declared through vote rigging and not otherwise." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF OPPOSITION PARTY MEDREK, BEYENE PETROS, SAYING: "I am scared personally that post election that any little expression of disenchantment or expression of opinion will be attacked and that would lead to unfortunate mishandling of the population." JOURNALISTS AT THE NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) LEADER OF OPPOSITION PARTY OROMO FEDERALIST CONGRESS, BULCHA DEMEKSA, SAYING: "Many of them vote for EPRDF (Ruling party) for fear that somehow the government can see through the ceiling, and when the people ask how can the government see through the ceiling - cadres of the EPRDF said that if the doctor can see inside you with an x-ray you think its impossible for the government to see through the ceiling? and I tell you this has made rigging very, very possible." WIDE SHOT OF NATIONAL ELECTORAL BOARD OF ETHIOPIA NEWS CONFERENCE (NEBE) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ETHIOPIA NATIONAL ELECTORAL BOARD DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, DR ADDISU GEBREIZABHIER, SAYING: "Democracy, election process, are not, you know you get better through process. And we are in a better position to handle the current election. And we can say that the current, 2010 election, will have significant difference from the past." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE
  • Embargoed: 6th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA65YM5SYRMCZPPSJPUM0PILNDL
  • Story Text: Tensions are high in the countdown to Ethiopia's first elections since a disputed 2005 poll which the opposition said was fixed. They are making a similar claim this time.
    Addis Ababa's main stadium was packed on Friday (May 21) as the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopia's ruling party, used the last day of official campaigning to rally supporters.
    Around 30,000 people are estimated to have attended, with soldiers employed to maintain security.
    The rally came as opposition politicians claimed they were forbidden from holding similar rallies in the capital city just days before the polls on Sunday (May 23).
    Beyene Petros, chairman of MEDREK, the eight member opposition coalition seen as the largest political force challenging the 19-year-old government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, said the ruling party is using a variety of methods to win the election.
    "Victory can simply only be declared through vote rigging and not otherwise," he said. He believes there could be a repeat of the violence seen after the last elections in 2005. A disputed poll led to street riots, leaving around 200 dead and the jailing of leading opposition politicians.
    "I am scared personally that post election that any little expression of disenchantment or expression of opinion will be attacked and that would lead to unfortunate mishandling of the population," he said.
    Another senior opposition figure, Bulcha Demeksa of the Oromo Federalist Congress, accuses the ruling party of using inventive methods to get illiterate people in the countryside to vote for them.
    "Many of them vote for EPRDF for fear that somehow the government can see through the ceiling, and when the people ask how can the government see through the ceiling, cadres of the EPRDF said that if the doctor can see inside you with an x-ray you think it's impossible for the government to see through the ceiling? And I tell you this has made rigging very, very possible," Demeksa said.
    The government says the opposition's allegations of intimidation and politically motivated killings of candidates are simply part of a plan to force unconstitutional change.
    Despite the rhetoric, the deputy chairman of the National Electoral Board insisted there would not be a repeat of any violence.
    Dr. Addisu Gebreizabhier said democracy gets better every time there is an election, and this time there would be a significant difference.
    Around 30 million people are expected to vote.
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