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Zewdnesh Chuko, 48, cast her ballot on Sunday April
13 at the Kebele 17/19 polling station in the Addis
Ketema District. A mother of one, she went to the
station pretty confident that she would vote for the
party of her choice. That was until she found out
that her number of choices had been narrowed down.
She was flabbergasted to hear that the United
Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) had withdrawn
from the current local and by-elections.
"I was not aware of the withdrawal," said Zewdnesh
caught by surprise.
It was her second visit to the polling stations to
cast a vote; her first one having been during the
fiery May 2005 national elections. She had expected
that the latest election would see the complete and
passionate participation of all political parties
that had recently geared up their candidates for the
race.
But one thing did not surprise Zewdnesh; the low
turnout of voters at polling stations. She had long
suspected that the current election would be unlike
the sizzling hot elections of 2005, which witnessed
a massive voter turnout. The May 15, 2005 elections
can be remembered for the long, winding queues of
enthusiastic voters that snaked through various
polling stations. The same could not be said about
the current elections as there were hardly any
queues in several polling stations observed by
Fortune.
"The public has given little attention to the
current election," said Michael Kinfu, 28, who was
casting his ballot in Kebele 10 of the Gulele
District.
Indeed, following the deadly post election traumas
three years ago, political pundits claim that not
much excitement can be seen among the public. Almost
90pc of the 25 million registered voters had gone to
the polls on May 15, 2005. However, the following
day witnessed the lodging of complaints by the
contending political parties; the Coalition for
Unity and Democracy (CUD) lodged complaints in 139
constituencies, the UEDF filed 89 complaints, while
the EPRDF raised concerns over irregularities in
more than 50 seats. This was the beginning of an
aftermath of a blood shedding mayhem that claimed
the lives of 193 protestors and six federal police
officers.
Rebuilding the public's trust seems to have been a
daunting task both for the ruling party and the
National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) three
years down the line.
"The public has yet to revive from the post-2005
pain," Moshe Semu, secretary- general of the United
Ethiopia Democratic Party (UEDP-Medhin), told
Fortune.
Voter turnout was significantly low in Adama
(Nazareth) town of the Oromia Regional State.
According to official statistics released by the
electoral officials there, the number of voters in
the current election was seven times lower than the
May 2005 elections, which saw 85,000 voters from the
over 200,000 population in the town casting their
ballots. No other political party, besides the
ruling party, fielded its candidates in Adama in
last Sunday's elections, which grabbed the attention
of only 9,707 voters.
The NEBE, however, does not agree that this year's
election have witnessed low turnouts. The board
rather argues that the number of registered voters
this year exceeds that of the previous election
year.
According to figures released by the board, 26
million voters had registered for the current
elections, up from the 2005 figure by half a
million.
Tesfaye Mengesha, secretary-general of the board,
told Fortune that the current turnout is 93pc.
Official figures indicate that 1.1 million people
had registered here in the capital, which is higher
than that of the 2005 by 200,000.
The NEBE has its own explanations as to why the
elections this year appears to have had turn outs,
with very few or no queues.
"The number of polling stations has grown from
33,000 to 42,000," said Tesfaye. "This has helped to
ease the pressure that results from long queues at
each of the polling station."
What has displeased the board, and stunned Zewdnesh
to say the least, is the last minute withdrawal of
contending opposition parties such as UEDF and Oromo
Federalist Democratic Party (OFDM).
Led by Bulcha Demeksa, MP, the OFDM alleges that the
ruling party has constantly been intimidating its
candidates in regions, forcing it to withdraw from
the race on Wednesday, April 16. The biggest
parliamentary opposition party, the UEDF had already
withdrawn 20,000 candidates two days before the
Election Day, alleging many of its candidates had
been prevented from registering by electoral
authorities.
This has been castigated by the secretary-general of
the electoral board.
"Pulling out of the election at the height of the
election is disrespect to the public, if not a waste
of money and time," Tesfaye bemoaned to Fortune.
The board believes that the UEDF was not really
ready to participate and win in the election, except
throw blame at others.
Beyene Petros (Prof), chairman of the UEDF and MP
does not buy the board's claim.
"It is our right to withdraw any time we feel the
board has failed to do its job right," he told
Fortune.
This information had not been effectively
disseminated to the polling stations, though. For
instance, Fortune has observed in Kebele 03 of the
Arada District that none of the organisers in the
polling stations were aware of the late withdrawal
of the UEDF. Uninformed voters were also voting for
Tamirat Woldehana, a candidate of the party in the
kebele, until 6:00pm.
"The withdrawal had not been brought to our
attention, and neither did we accidentally hear
about it," said Ayalew Baye, one of the organisers
at the polling station.
The NEBE said the withdrawal announcement had been
made through the state media, and believes that it
was early enough to reach as many voters as possible
within two days.
Despite what seems to have been a quiet election, it
has been followed by victory for candidates fielded
by the incumbent.
For instance, in Kebele 27 of the Addis Ketema
District, the ruling part grossed 4,032 votes while
the CUD led by Ayele Chamiso trailed by 351 votes.
In Kebele 16/17 of the same district, the ruling
party secured 2,301 votes and the CUD followed with
256 votes. EPRDF also had remarkably won the
previous election, according to official figures.
In September 2005 the NEBE released its final
results, in which the EPRDF retained its control of
the government with 327 seats, 59pc of the vote. The
CUD and UEDF won 109 and 52 votes, respectively. The
now disintegrated CUD also overwhelmingly won all
the 23 seats that the capital has in the federal
parliament and all but one in the 138-seat city
council. Having elected Berhanu Nega, a prominent
economist and vice chairman of the party, as the
mayor of the capital, the party later decided to
boycott its seats, prior to the subsequent
disintegration of its member parties; All opposition
parties followed suit; Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP),
Ethiopian Democratic League (EDL), Rainbow Ethiopia:
Movement for Democracy and Social Justice (RE: MDSJ),
and the United Ethiopia Democratic Party- (UEDP-Medhin).
Eventually Addis Abeba was handed over to the
caretaker Administration led by Brehane Deressa,
which administered the city for two consecutive
years. This administration is expected to leave
office following the April 13 and April 20 local and
by-elections for the parliament as well as districts
and Kebeles, respectively. The first elections held
last week have been acclaimed by the ruling party,
which also expects a sweeping victory in today's
follow up elections.
Bereket Simon, advisor to the Prime Minister, told
Fortune that this year's elections are more
successful and disciplined than those of 2005.
The election, which consumed 100 million Br from the
government's coffer, has however, not met the
expectations of Zewdnesh and her fellow voters.
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