(JT) The leader of the largest opposition group MEDREK in Ethiopia said the most important agreement between political parties in the 2010 Ethiopian election, the "Code of Conduct," has not been honored by the Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Speaking to Jimma Times media, Dr. Merera Gudina said "the much talked about code of conduct has been already killed by the ruling party" and the opposition campaign sites are becoming a war zone throughout rural Ethiopia.


Dr. Gudina told this to JT after he finished a long and dangerous travel visiting 40 of the 180 districts in Oromia, the largest regional state in Ethiopia. Out of the 40 Oromia districts, he was able to hold only six public meetings, complaining that the "election administration is totally taken over by the local (TPLF/OPDO) cadres." A Professor of political science in Addis Ababa University (AAU), Merera Gudina is also the chairman of the largest Oromo political party, Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), which is a member of the eight-party coalition Forum for Democratic Dialogue (FDD – Medrek). According to international human rights groups and opposition officials, the result of the upcoming Ethiopian election has already been pre-decided by the ruling party controlled election board and by a security apparatus that answers to Meles Zenawi instead of the Ethiopian constitution.

Despite all parties being accountable to the code of conduct, at least three Medrek supporters and members have been killed by the ruling party (government) security in recent days while hundreds have been injured and harassed frequently. The public meetings were given permission with the written authorization of the Meles government and the election board. Accordingly, some opposition officials say the violent treatment of high-level OFC leaders by the government indicate the pre-election human rights abuses are well-planned acts ordered from the top of the Zenawi leadership.


"In some areas they deny open space for meetings; deny our campaigners hotel rooms; flatten tires of our cars, smashed the windows of our cars, have beaten our campaigners and snatched our video camera" said Dr. Gudina, adding that the police in Oromia watched as Oromos who gathered to meet OFC leaders were being beaten up by ruling party agents. Despite the difficulties they faced, the multi-ethnic Medrek leadership has managed to campaign in the most diverse communities throughout Ethiopia compared to other political organizations. A Medrek group led by Prof. Beyene Petros has campaigned in Hadiya region and several areas of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR) while the Arena/Medrek sub-party of Gebru Asrat campaigned strongly in Tigray and the Medrek sub-party of imprisoned politician Birtukan Mideksa, the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), managed to campaign at nearly two dozen areas in Addis Ababa, Amhara, SNNPR and Oromia.

In addition to human rights abuses, the ruling party is accused of using its monopoly on the media to divide the Medrek opposition based on ethnicity, particularly to divide Oromos and Amaras as well as spread mistrust of the opposition among the people of Tigray. Scholars say Medrek's ability to embrace all ethnic groups and their interests has frightened the ruling party.

"Medrek's biggest accomplishment was the willingness of member parties to make significant ideological and policy compromise" said the young Oromo-Ethiopian political analysts Jawar Mohammed speaking to Jimma Times. According to him, the opposition made a historic move to corner the ruling party ideologically. Jawar explained, "Ethno-nationalist parties moved to the center by committing themselves to the unity of the country. Centrist parties also shifted to the center by accepting self-rule. EPRDF never thought this could happen and was not ready for it. In addition, the coming of former TPLF leaders with positive political capital within their community has helped the opposition to bring Tigray into the political game. "

However, Jawar says Medrek currently lacks the "organizational capacity" to convert the ideological mandate it possesses into a grassroots and widespread support throughout Ethiopia. Despite the problems it is facing from the Meles government, Medrek should use the election and other opportunities to broaden its support base and develop organizational capacity during and post-election, added Jawar.

The 2010 national election will take place on May 23 and official results are expected to be announced on June 21.