Ethiopian Prime Minister Declares Victory in Election
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi waves to supporters at the Meskel
Square in Addis Ababa
25 May, 2010
May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said his Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front won this week’s elections, as tens of thousands of supporters protested against criticism of the vote by rights activists.
“We, the EPRDF, thank the people of Ethiopia for giving us their mandate,” Meles said today at a rally in the capital, Addis Ababa. “The opposition should look into themselves and question why people have not voted for them.”
The EPRDF and allied parties garnered 534 seats in the nation’s 547-seat parliament, the National Electoral Board said today. The opposition Medrek alliance and an independent candidate won one each, with results for 11 seats outstanding, it said. The European Union’s chief observer of the election, Thijs Berman, criticized the electoral process, saying the “playing field is not level” in the country.
EPRDF supporters congregated in Addis Ababa’s central Meskel Square today to protest a report by Human Rights Watch that said the government and ruling party officials used a combination of harassment and arrests and withholding food aid and jobs to thwart opponents during campaigning.
The government has denied the allegations, saying economic growth in Ethiopia of more than 7 percent annually over the past five years has bolstered its support.
“This election does not concern Human Rights Watch,” said Mulugeta Gebegiorgis, a 38-year-old driver, who was among the protesters at Meskel Square. Police maintained a presence on the streets of the city, as protesters waved placards with slogans such as “We choose our leaders, no one else,” and “Election observers yes, Trojan horses no.”
EU Criticism
Berman of the EU said the electoral process fell short of “certain international commitments.” He paraphrased a line from George Orwell’s 1945 novel “Animal Farm” in describing the ruling party’s use of government resources during the campaign.
“Perhaps everybody was equal,” said Berman. “But some parties were more equal than others.”
The opposition criticized the U.S., the U.K. and other Western nations, accusing them of failing to react strongly to Meles’s alleged rights abuses in recent years and for not preventing the politicization of foreign food and anti-poverty programs.
“Liberal democracy is finished in Ethiopia,” said Hailu Shawel, chairman of the All Ethiopia Unity Party, the country’s second-largest opposition bloc. He compared the current government to the previous Communist Derg regime.
‘Lights Out’
“A one-party state, we lived through it in Derg times, now we’re going to live through it again,” he said. “The young people will have to start all over again because the light is completely put out.”
A former Communist guerrilla leader who has ruled Africa’s second-most populous nation since 1991, Meles, 55, has been a key ally in the fight against Islamic militants in neighboring Somalia. Under Meles, Ethiopia, Africa’s top coffee producer, has pursued an economic model that mixes a large state role with foreign investment in roads, dams and power.
In the country’s last election in 2005, both the opposition and ruling party claimed victory. Security forces loyal to Meles killed 193 people in Addis Ababa in ensuing unrest and tens of thousands of people were jailed, including opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa, who remains behind bars under a life sentence.
In his speech today, Meles sought the international community’s endorsement of this week’s vote.
“Some of our foreign friends have disappointed us, but that’s in the past and we urge them now to give recognition to the people’s vote,” he said.
