Closing the Transition: the May 1995 Elections in Ethiopia (original) (raw)

PN-ABZ-710 Elections and Democratization in Post-Mengistu Ethiopia

1998

The Ethiopian People=s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) overthrew the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam in May, 1991. Just over one year later, the interim EPRDF administration conducted regional elections which defined the whole future course of the Ethiopian political transition and the nature and extent of its democratic outcomes. These elections were to be crucial events shaping Ethiopia=s quest for democratic governance in the wake of nearly two decades of authoritarian rule. This report considers the context and conduct of these 1992 regional election processes and their consequences for democratic governance and the long quest for a post-imperial state in Ethiopia. .. The report offers strategic recommendations, based on the Ethiopian experience for the conduct of initial democratic elections in war-torn societies. 1. Context Ethiopia confines to be one of the world=s very poorest countries by almost every conventional measure. It also is one of the oldest, continuously functioning polities in the world with historical roots dating well into pre-Christian times. Few countries exhibit greater cultural diversity. Particularly, in the twentieth century, Ethiopia has been an African empire held together by emperors skillfully employing the country=s historic identification with Coptic Christianity, blending elements of modernity with deeply ingrained tradition, quasi feudal political and economic structures and practices. Civil war, famine and pestilence have combined to create both diasporas within and outside the country. Twice within a generation Ethiopia has attempted a transition from authoritarian rule. An incipient revolution in 1974 ended the reign of Ethiopia=s last emperor, Haile Selassie I. A 120 man committee of middle and junior level military officers seized leadership of this revolution-in-the-making and charted a transformation from the quasi-feudal inegalitarianism of the emperors to some form of socialism. But this revolutionary upsurge metastasized into seventeen years of military dictatorship under Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mengistu=s regime inflicted its authoritarian rule on Ethiopians at the grass roots to an unprecedented degree. This and its unflinching insistence on military solutions to the problem of Eritrean secession and to state-centric development fueled a civil war led by the Tigre-based Ethiopian People=s Democratic Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) which overthrew Mengistu in 1991.

Interview with Herald Communiques of the EPRDF Executive Committee, Democracy, Republic and Multiparty Politics in Ethiopia XII No 308 MMXVIII

Respublica Litereria, 2018

The Executive Committee has found that their shortcomings in providing strategic leadership at the time are widely felt. It has been held that the senior leadership has lacked the ability to manage effectively the complex national platform because its ability to identify, analyse, and resolve accordingly. On this basis, it apologises to all citizens of our nation and members of our organisation for not only maintaining the momentum of our nation's hard-fought victories, but also taking full responsibility for the damage caused by our organisation to our country. West. With the rise of populism and hate politics in relation to immigration, religion and colour. Three types of threat to democracy: coups, catastrophes and technological takeovers. While coups will become less common, other forms of "coups" will constrain elected governments even while they remain formally in power. Further, looming threats to civilisation, (environmental crises and nuclear warfare) could make democracy seem like an unaffordable luxury. Social media we have become dependent on is an arena that we neither control nor fully understand. Nevertheless, while influential voices contend that democracy is in decline worldwide, the global proportion of democracies is actually at or near an all-time high. Republican democracy is the active participation of politically conscious citizens with the requisite understanding of the meaning of democracy, as citizens of a political society in a polity endowed with political rules and institutions. It is a system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections and one that protects the human rights of all citizens and a rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens. Democracy creates losers as well as winners. When the losers are powerful enough to undermine democracy, this is why the fate of many democracies has been precarious. Today, while PM Abiy inherits a spectacular economic and infrastructure growth, hundreds of thousands graduating yearly from hundreds of vocational schools, universities, a ten-years increase in life expectancy in a decade and meeting the MDGs. Nevertheless, because of the frustrated populace he has now emerged to transform the security situation, which predicated a martial law to silence it, after his historic speech focused on Ethiopianness and the need to act together as citizens of a single political society. The remaining agenda is to fix the economic and social governance and the livelihood of Ethiopia's youth. I see unquestionable genuineness in PM Abiy's moves to widen the political space and to make his ruling party a competitive political organ that can win the spoils of power using political participation and political competition. The party has declared it will widen the political space but whatever his party chooses as a strategy remains to be seen. Abiy has given another life to a party that had transformed the economic infrastructure and education of the youth of Ethiopia; but had at the same time, lost the confidence of the same youth it had meticulously enlightened to question its governance strategies.

Political Dynamics the Rift of EPRDF Coalitions Since the Outbreak of Qerro’s Protest to the Nomination of Dr. Abiy Ahmed in Ethiopia

2021

Ethiopia has been under the rule of EPRDF coalitions, a vanguard party ruling the country since the collapse of Derg regime. This article is therefore, intended to explore the political dynamics associated with the rift of EPRDF coalitions since the outbreaks of Qerro’s protest. To meet the study purposes, q ualitative research design was employed to collect the data. The study reveals that the broke out of Qerro’s protest against integrated master plan of Addis Ababa and tyrannical rule of EPRDF used to be the key dawn towards the step down of titular OPDO officials and empowerment of reformist ODP officials in place that eventually split ruling coalitions in to conservative and reformist. Broad spectrum of political dynamics like: declaration of state of emergency, massive displacement of Oromo people from Ethio-Somali region, wider public protests accompanied by sectorial boycotts, political unrest, apprehension of contrabandist, resignation of late prime minister, Mr. Hailemaria...

The Ethiopian 2010 federal and regional elections: Re-establishing the one-party state

African Affairs, 2011

Considering the widespread pre-election interest and excitement the 2005 election attracted, and the vigorous role played by the opposition both during the campaign and in the post-election turmoil, the 2010 process was a huge let-down. The general impression among Ethiopians was that the outcome was a foregone conclusion, so the electorate was rather passively, or perhaps reluctantly, following the campaign and election discourse. The only excitement was related to how overwhelmingly the incumbent Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) would win; the general guesstimate was that the huge opposition gains in the 2005 elections, giving them one-third of the seats in the House of Representatives, would be pushed back in order for EPRDF to secure a solid victory of between 75-85 percent of the seats. It thus raised some eyebrows both domestically and internationally when the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) declared that EPRDF had secured 99.6 percent of the seats in Parliamentall but two, one going to the opposition and one to an EPRDF-friendly independent candidate. What happened in the 2010 electoral process, or before, that can explain the radical setback for the opposition and the total victory of EPRDF? Does the election outcome represent the genuine will of the Ethiopian electorate? Is it true, as Prime Minister Meles Zenawi asserts, that EPRDF actually is that popular? This briefing offers three broad categories, each with three sets of interconnected and reinforcing factors, explaining the shift of political climate in Ethiopia since the 2005 elections, making sense of the 'better-than-Soviet-style' 2010 election result. First, however, a brief background to Ethiopia's electoral transition is presented and an analysis of the political context prior to the run-up to the

EPRDF’s ‘menu of institutional manipulations’ and the 2015 regional elections

Regional & Federal Studies

Ethiopia is generally considered to have 'a dominant party authoritarian' system in which the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), along with its affiliates, enjoy electoral dominance. This contribution argues that EPRDF's electoral dominance in the 2015 regional elections, indeed in all the elections held in the past two decades, is partly the result of the party's use of what Schedler refers to 'menu of institutional manipulations' including electoral rules, government agencies, local authorities and even civil society organizations, to maintain its dominance. The semi-consociational system that guides the relationships of the constituent parties of EPRDF also provides the latter an electoral edge over the opposition parties which are often fragmented. The paper further argues that EPRDF's vanguardist self-view, which is an offshoot of its 'revolutionary democracy' ideology, underpins its drive to be a dominant party and to use all of the institutional manipulations under its disposal.