|
The All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) rejected the
National Electoral Board of Ethiopia’s (NEBE’s)
announcement and insisted for both national and
regional re-elections.
At a press conference it held on Wednesday, May 26,
2010, the AEUP listed 11 reasons for the need to
have a re-election. The election process as well as
the voting day was full of harassment, intimidation,
and beating of its observers and some voters, the
party claimed to local and foreign journalists.
The campaigning process lacked a level playing field
for opposition parties, the AEUP alleged. It was
hard for opposition parties to recruit members, open
or rent offices, and organise conferences and
seminars before the election, the party said. Its
candidates were also hardly free to campaign in most
parts of the country, particularly in Amhara, Oromia,
Benishangul-Gumuz, Afar, and Southern Nations,
Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) regional states,
the party alleged.
“Campaign materials were destroyed across the
country, mainly those of the opposition parties,”
claimed Hailu Shawel (Eng), the party’s chairman.
“The ruling party campaigned in churches and
marketplaces, although these were prohibited
places.”
The polling stations did not ensure privacy for
voting, Hailu alleged. Some voters were also caught
red-handed with more than one voting card and
expelled, he claimed.
The ruling party rampantly used public resources for
its campaigning, he argued. It even used kebele
(local government) offices to recruit, harass, and
intimidate voters and to send misleading messages
about candidates, the AEUP claimed.
The NEBE had turned a deaf ear to his party, Hailu
contended. They had sent “zillions of complaints and
letters of grievance,” he claimed. The AEUP as well
as other opposition parties were subjected to biased
time allocations and reporting in favour of the
incumbent, he claimed. There were rampant
imprisonments and beatings of its candidates, he
continued. These happened because the public media,
the NEBE, the police force, and the prosecutors were
not neutral and independent of the ruling party,
both during the pre election process and on Election
Day, the AEUP alleged. These reasons led to its
rejection of the result, the NEBE announced. |
