According to local Medrek reports, OPDO agents stabbed a Jimma zone opposition candidate for the Medrek party, the largest opposition coalition in Ethiopia. The attempted murder was carried out on Tariku Mekonnen who is a member of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) sub-party of the Medrek coalition. The suspects attacked Tariku near his home and he is in stable condition.

The Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO) is one of the four main branches of the EPRDF ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Human rights abuses are common events in rural parts of Oromia where there is limited media and no diplomatic risk for the ruling party. According to the election board, there are over 900 polling stations in Jimma Zone and dozens of parties are registered to compete in the region. Jimma city is the second largest city in Ethiopia by land size and it is the economical center of southwestern Ethiopia.


In the last disputed 2005 election, the CUD/UDJ opposition party of Judge Birtukan Mideksa won in the ethnically diverse city of Jimma while the OPDO claimed it won the election in the general Jimma zone. The Oromo Peoples Congress (OPC) and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) opposition parties said they won in most rural parts of Oromia and accused the ruling party for changing the results in the final day of counting.  The OPC and OFDM have recently united to form the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), which is a member of the Medrek grand coalition.

The election board and the security in Jimma is controlled by the OPDO/EPRDF ruling party. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned this week on the state-run television ETV that his ruling party is organizing a list of opposition officials who are allegedly violating the election code of conduct. Meles said he will wait to imprison the alleged violators after the 2010 election, which the opposition has regarded as another declaration of election victory by Meles before the election voting has begun.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Ethiopian "election day is likely to be ... a veneer of democratic pretension hiding a repressive state apparatus" and foreign donors should "break their silence and condemn the climate of fear in Ethiopia."