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Ethiopian opposition rejects poll result

By Aaron Maasho (AFP)

ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian opposition groups on Wednesday rejected results of parliamentary elections which gave long-time ruler Meles Zenawi a landslide win, and demanded fresh polls.

The main opposition bloc Medrek, which had already said Sunday’s polls were riddled with fraud, called for a re-run of the election hours after another opposition party criticised the process as unfair.

“We will not accept the results and we will call for (a new) election,” said Merara Gudina, one of the main leaders of the eight-member Medrek coalition.

Medrek has so far won only one seat, according to preliminary polls which showed Meles’ ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party had taken 499 seats, in results from 536 constituencies.

The vast Horn of Africa nation has a 547-seat lower house and final results are to be released on June 21.

Meles, who has led Ethiopia since 1991 and is a key Western ally against Islamic extremism in the region, had been widely expected to win in the face of a weak opposition and after months of what rights groups described as shrinking political space.

The leader of the All Ethiopians Unity Party Hailu Shawl, whose party had won no seat, said the results were not realistic.

“Look at the results, they don’t look real. We’ll wait for what the board says and decide what path to take,” Hailu told reporters.

He explained that the party had also decided to demand a re-run as its observers were beaten and driven away from polling stations across the country.

“We were told of the figures, the results, but we were barred from participating in the observation process and we have no idea what happened during voting day,” Hailu said.

Both groups have however ruled out street protests.

In the last elections in 2005, around 200 people were killed after the now defunct opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy led by Hailu protested alleged fraud by Meles’ party.

“We are not going to call our supporters to protest. We told them to be patient,” said Hailu.

The violence that swept the country five years ago has left the opposition weakened, with many of its leaders jailed or exiled and its supporters wary of further bloodshed.

The European Union observer mission said the weekend polls were unfair, citing restricted political freedoms and use of state resources by the ruling party.

The United States’ top diplomat for Africa, Johnnie Carson, also said they had failed to meet international standards.

However, the electoral commission said it had no evidence of fraud.

Addressing a crowd of tens of thousands of supporters during Tuesday’s victory rally in central Addis Ababa, Meles said the results sent a clear message to the opposition and warned them against causing any trouble.

“I believe that the people of Ethiopia… have unequivocally sent a clear message to the opposition parties in our country,” he said.

“They must accept the decision of our great and proud people and not become tools of external forces that don’t have the right to act as the ultimate judges of our elections.”