Electoral Frustrations

Two weeks of elections have come and gone, and I have not yet experienced a more comic election process than the ones just completed in the capital as well as across the country. I suppose the word ‘farce’ would be the best way to describe the events of the last two Sundays and the obvious results that they are to yield.

To begin with, the only active and well organized political party that participated in the race was the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which registered nearly four million candidates, an outrageous number as far as I am concerned, considering that they did not have much competition. The main reason, for this is the simple fact that many opposition parties decided to abstain or withdraw from the process because the requests they made to the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEB) for transparent, free and fair elections with as equal coverage time on public media as the incumbent has, were not even considered, let alone met. Many of the parties also claimed harassment, which some international human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, have agreed existed.

The Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) withdrew its candidacy after the initial elections had already taken place, claiming intimidation and a lack of fairness and transparency. The United Ethiopia Democratic Front (UEDF) did not have its name on the ballot to begin with; they withdrew two days before the elections began two weeks ago. The Ethiopian United Democratic Party (EUDP-Mehdin), in one of their most famous manoeuvres, tried claiming that they should retain the seats that they had won three years ago. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), or what used to be the CUD, did not participate, although the new bearers of the name were asking for voter support “just like they had in 2005” on public media, despite the fact that it was not their victory.

But it is not just the drama on the side of the political parties that makes this quite a funny situation; it is rather the reaction of the voting public. To begin with, I do not believe voter turnout was far from being the same as it was in the last elections, although the NEBE claims otherwise.

I received a knock on my door from someone reminding me that it was Election Day. I made it a point to remind him that I had not registered to vote. I was given an account of voters writing notes like “we are tired”, “please step down”, and “we want someone else”, on the ballot papers, instead of voting for the candidates on them.

I am not entirely sure what the Revolutionary Democrats were thinking of when preparing for these elections. We, as a political public, are not happy with the leadership that is currently being offered to us. This should have been our rightful time to put into position the people that we felt would take us out of the crippling rise in daily expenses and general discontent that has taken over our city. As a political public, we were not given a choice; rather we were mocked in the same manner as when one is invited to the theatre and then offered a puppet show instead.
To be honest, I do not blame opposition parties for not taking part in these elections, despite their shortcomings; this decision certainly was not one of their making. Rather, I blame the utter and total failure to bring about significant and tangible change on the part of the Revolutionary Democrats, because it was their responsibility to restore voter confidence. It was, after all, they who had lost them to begin with.

Aside from being the dominant party in the parliament as well as on regional, woreda and kebelle levels, it is the responsibility of those in power not only to restore, but also to implement the transparency and fairness of the state’s affairs. Not only has this not taken place, those in power have gone so far as to use those very means to ensure that they strengthen and consolidate their power instead of listening to the pulse of the people who they are trying to rule.
I have stated before in this column that I did not think that our country and people were ready for democracy. I take that back, it is not the people who are not ready, but rather it is the government, and to a certain extent the opposition. If indeed free and fair elections were the aim and final goal of all the players in the political sphere, then I would like to believe that there would have been a lot more compromise, better achievement and a lot more improvements.
On the contrary, we find ourselves in a throwback situation; it is like some bad story out of 20th Century African politics. Military leaders eras, times that we do NOT like to talk about in public. Since we are going to be having EPRDF as our leader for some time, I think it is time that they begin working a hell of a lot harder to make the political situation in the country more coherent to global standards.

At least, they should make the political space in the country more accessible to the public and more susceptible to change, energy and transparency.
BY Lulit Amdemariam

Source: Addis Fortune