• Former US President Jimmy Carter’s international election monitoring team at the “Carter Center” organization said the Meles Zenawi government rejected its request to start election observing preparations early, a tactic the Ethiopian ruling party controlled election board used during the last election. Accordingly, the "Carter Center" organization will not be observing the 2010 election that is widely expected to be rigged again by the ruling party of Ethiopia which controls the media, the election board, the security and all federal institutions in Ethiopia. The only and government media, ETV, has already called the opposition "anti-people" and it has declared that 32 million Ethiopians have registered to vote in a matter of just three weeks in the predominantly rural country despite observers witnessing near empty voter registration stations. During the last 2005 poll, Zenawi’s ruling party lost the election according to most international observers but his administration kept power after declaring a state of emergency.

“Carter Center decides not to observe 2010 elections

(REPORTER) The Carter Center has informed the Ethiopian government that it will not participate in the 2010 elections as an observer. “After careful consideration and with deep regrets, The Carter Center has decided not to observe the 2010 elections in Ethiopia,” the center said in a letter it sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The carter Center however did not indicate in its letter why it decided not to participate as an observer in the 2010 elections.

Sources had informed The Reporter previously that the center had requested to send its exploratory team in December. That request however, the sources said, was turned down and the center was informed to send its team this February.

“The center said that if they arrived that late, they would not be able to send long-term observers until it was too late for them to do it properly,” the same sources had said.

REPORTER