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Two weeks of elections have come and gone, and I
have not yet experienced a more comic election
process than the ones just completed in the capital
as well as across the country. I suppose the word
‘farce’ would be the best way to describe the events
of the last two Sundays and the obvious results that
they are to yield.
To begin with, the only active and well organized
political party that participated in the race was
the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF), which registered nearly four million
candidates, an outrageous number as far as I am
concerned, considering that they did not have much
competition. The main reason, for this is the simple
fact that many opposition parties decided to abstain
or withdraw from the process because the requests
they made to the National Electoral Board of
Ethiopia (NEB) for transparent, free and fair
elections with as equal coverage time on public
media as the incumbent has, were not even
considered, let alone met. Many of the parties also
claimed harassment, which some international human
rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch,
have agreed existed.
The Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM)
withdrew its candidacy after the initial elections
had already taken place, claiming intimidation and a
lack of fairness and transparency. The United
Ethiopia Democratic Front (UEDF) did not have its
name on the ballot to begin with; they withdrew two
days before the elections began two weeks ago. The
Ethiopian United Democratic Party (EUDP-Mehdin), in
one of their most famous manoeuvres, tried claiming
that they should retain the seats that they had won
three years ago. The Coalition for Unity and
Democracy (CUD), or what used to be the CUD, did not
participate, although the new bearers of the name
were asking for voter support “just like they had in
2005” on public media, despite the fact that it was
not their victory.
But it is not just the drama on the side of the
political parties that makes this quite a funny
situation; it is rather the reaction of the voting
public. To begin with, I do not believe voter
turnout was far from being the same as it was in the
last elections, although the NEBE claims otherwise.
I
received a knock on my door from someone reminding
me that it was Election Day. I made it a point to
remind him that I had not registered to vote. I was
given an account of voters writing notes like “we
are tired”, “please step down”, and “we want someone
else”, on the ballot papers, instead of voting for
the candidates on them.
I
am not entirely sure what the Revolutionary
Democrats were thinking of when preparing for these
elections. We, as a political public, are not happy
with the leadership that is currently being offered
to us. This should have been our rightful time to
put into position the people that we felt would take
us out of the crippling rise in daily expenses and
general discontent that has taken over our city. As
a political public, we were not given a choice;
rather we were mocked in the same manner as when one
is invited to the theatre and then offered a puppet
show instead.
To be honest, I do not blame opposition parties for
not taking part in these elections, despite their
shortcomings; this decision certainly was not one of
their making. Rather, I blame the utter and total
failure to bring about significant and tangible
change on the part of the Revolutionary Democrats,
because it was their responsibility to restore voter
confidence. It was, after all, they who had lost
them to begin with.
Aside from being the dominant party in the
parliament as well as on regional, woreda and
kebelle levels, it is the responsibility of those in
power not only to restore, but also to implement the
transparency and fairness of the state’s affairs.
Not only has this not taken place, those in power
have gone so far as to use those very means to
ensure that they strengthen and consolidate their
power instead of listening to the pulse of the
people who they are trying to rule.
I
have stated before in this column that I did not
think that our country and people were ready for
democracy. I take that back, it is not the people
who are not ready, but rather it is the government,
and to a certain extent the opposition. If indeed
free and fair elections were the aim and final goal
of all the players in the political sphere, then I
would like to believe that there would have been a
lot more compromise, better achievement and a lot
more improvements.
On the contrary, we find ourselves in a throwback
situation; it is like some bad story out of 20th
Century African politics. Military leaders eras,
times that we do NOT like to talk about in public.
Since we are going to be having EPRDF as our leader
for some time, I think it is time that they begin
working a hell of a lot harder to make the political
situation in the country more coherent to global
standards.
At least, they should make the political space in
the country more accessible to the public and more
susceptible to change, energy and transparency. |
