According to JT sources, some officials of the Medrek opposition coalition are considering different options on how to respond to the shocking election results, including on demanding an election re-run. This comes as the Obama US administration condemned the election which has allegedly been stolen by the ruling party of Meles Zenawi.
A White House statement said "An environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day."
The New York Times described the sweeping of all seats by Meles Zenawi and his allies as Ethiopia’s “return to a one-party state,” which has not occurred in parliament since the era of the communist government of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.
The European Union also joined international human rights groups who have criticized the pre-election abuses and the “uneven playing field,” as many opposition leaders also declared the Meles party acted as both a referee and a player during the disputed contest. It said “several detentions without charges brought against opposition party supporters by the police or kebele militias have been reported” to the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM).
While some opposition leaders are discussing on whether to seek an election re-run, various armed rebel groups in Ethiopia declared the conduct of the Meles ruling party during the 2010 election was another testimony that armed struggle is the only way to bring change in Ethiopia.
According to officials of the opposition party Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), the UDJ vice-President Engineer Gizachew Shiferaw had unsuccessfully appealed the party leadership for a last minute boycott of the election the night before the May 23rd voting day. UDJ is one of the eight parties inside the Medrek coalition and observers said UDJ/Medrek has won in Addis Ababa while the AEUP group of Hailu Shawel shared seats with MEDREK in Amhara and southern regions.
However, the ruling party controlled election board declared Meles Zenawi’s party won virtually all parliament seats in Ethiopia and Meles said the result showed all Ethiopians support him. Meles said Ethiopians and his party are two sides of the same coin.
“The vast majority of the residents of our cities and the farmers of our country who actually consider themselves and the EPRDF as two sides of a coin have yet again shown the world that nothing can ever shake their unwavering support for our organisation,” Meles declared during his speech in Addis Ababa, hidden behind a bullet-proof screen.
Premier’s Party Sweeps Ethiopian Vote
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia appeared to solidify its return to a one-party state on Tuesday, as the country’s election board released provisional results showing Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s governing party winning nearly every seat in Sunday’s parliamentary elections.
Mr. Meles’s party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, won 534 of 536 seats, with the results for 11 seats still unannounced, the board said.
At a rally here in the capital, members of the governing party chanted slogans against Human Rights Watch, which has documented an extensive harassment and intimidation campaign against the opposition by Mr. Meles’s supporters. "What prevailed today is democracy, it’s not only the E.P.R.D.F.," the prime minister told the crowd.
Johnnie Carson, an American assistant secretary of state, criticized the elections as failing to meet international standards, Reuters reported. Still, opposition leaders accused the Obama administration and Britain of keeping silent about the abuses.
