Abiy’s election test, as Ethiopians vote “free” in the first poll

Berhanu Nega was last charged in 2005, did so well, and ended up in prison. The then-ruling People’s Democratic Democratic Front in Ethiopia, overwhelmed by strong opposition, declared a state of emergency, invented the results and threw Berhanu, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa, into prison.

Now 62, Berhanu is the main opposition candidate in Monday’s parliamentary elections, calling Ethiopia’s first poll truly “free and fair”.

The vote will be the first election test by Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed and Abiy Ahmed since he came to power in 2018 following protests promising reforms.

Although some opposition politicians say the process is flawed, Abiy hopes it will rescue a badly damaged reputation lately Civil War, creating hunger and horrors in the northern Tigray region.

“What is at stake is the very existence of this country,” said Berhanu, who was named a terrorist by an economics professor and sentenced to death. in absentia in his years in exile, referring to the ethnic violence that has erupted not only in Tigray since Abiy took office.

This violence among Ethiopia’s 80 ethnic groups has displaced 2 million people, including in Tigray, and threatens to break the former nation of 114m people compared to the former Yugoslavia.

Berhanu, who shares his view of Abiy as a more united state of Ethiopia, says the election could act as a reset, easing some of the tensions he blames on the election itself. “I care less about who wins and much more about the process,” he said. “If we hold credible elections, I think it could be a new beginning for this country.”

This view is not shared by other opposition parties, which are deeply committed to the referendum and cannot afford to miss the newly created Prosperity Party by Abiy.

Several significantly could be challenging they are in jail and many parties are boycotting an exercise that will not be done in some parts of the country, including Tigray, because they believe they are unstable. Of the 547 seats in the parliament, at least 102, mostly from the three regions — Tigray, Somalia and Harari — will not compete, according to Chatham House.

“There will be elections like in the days of Joseph Stalin, when we told the people of Russia that we are voting,” he said, “said Merera Gudina, president of the Oromo Federalist Congress, and is boycotting the poll. As a result, the Abiy party is expected to explore Oromia, the largest region with a population of 35 million, even though the prime minister, Oromo himself, is a more centralized state according to a view that has exhausted the interests of his region.

Opposition parties, including the Ethiopian people in favor of Berhan’s Social Justice, say the posters have been torn down and the supporters have been rude, although Berhan said he did not expect any direct exchanges, such as the accumulation of votes. Unlike the last election in 2015, where the EPRDF “won” 100% of the parliamentary seats, it announced that opposition parties would get a high level of representation.

The elections are still not helmets, “full of illegal restrictions, intimidation, arrests, all kinds of violence,” says Belete Molla Amhara, president of the National Movement party, a nationalist ethnic group. “Prosperity parties are massively wasting government money for the parties’ campaign, forcing people to use government support programs, ”Belet said, citing the withdrawal of subsidized goods such as fertilizers for those who did not register to vote.

After a controversial decision not to hold elections in 2020 due to Covid-19, about 37 million people have registered slowly because it needed a second small delay.

Daniel Bekele, head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission appointed by the state, said that despite the difficulties, the elections are more open than those of the EPRDF government under 27 years old. “The electoral process is credible enough, it is a step towards better elections in the future,” he said. “But the political environment in general poses the challenge of getting completely free and fair elections.”

A few days before Monday’s interrogation, Abiy returned to his hometown of Jimma in Oromia to show that his reputation is enduring. There, it was difficult to find anyone who did not support him or who did not support the war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which was blamed for decades of repression when he led the EPRDF coalition. Abiy’s supporters argued that there was no chance of invading Tigray after troops loyal to the TPLF attacked the northern command of the army in November.

“The problem is with the TPLF government, which was very bad,” said 39-year-old housewife Nuritu Siraj, whose eyes glazed at her every time she referred to “our Abiy”. Wearing a hijab wearing the Prosperity party’s light bulb symbol, he said of the violence in Tigray, where massacres, rapes and robberies have been common: “This is not a war, this is a peacekeeping operation.”

When tens of thousands of helpers gathered, some of them on horseback, Abiy incorporated his vision of unity, which is still uncommon in some parts of the country, such as the Somalis, the Dinars, and their oromo zealously guarding their autonomy. “Our unity does not destroy our diversity, our diversity does not disperse our unity,” he said.

The prime minister also seems to be meeting expectations about the upcoming referendum. “This will be the nation’s first attempt at free and fair elections,” he said in less than final approval.

Despite the success of this attempt, many of Ethiopia’s turbulent problems – the worst since the fierce Tigray war – are unsolvable. “It’s a critical moment; we are at a critical crossroads, ”Merera said.