Meles retains power in Ethiopia elections

  1. Posted on Tuesday 25 May 2010 - 11:39
    Muhyadin
    Muhyadin Ahmed Roble, AfricaNews reporter in Nairobi, Kenya
    Ethiopia's ruling party has won national elections, officials from electoral board said. Merga Bekana, Ethiopia's electoral board chairman said that the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front and its allies have won a majority of votes from nine of 11 regions. "As far as the provisional result is concerned, the EPRDF has won," Bekana said.
    Meles
    The party also is ahead in 20 of the capital's 23 parliamentary seats, wi th only two left to report results in the capital, Addis Ababa.

    Victory was widely expected and it means that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi would lead the country another five years. Meles who overthrew the communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam was in power since 1991. Final results will be announced in late June, officials have said.

    Observers from the European Union said the poll was peaceful and calm, albeit with some claims of irregularities that needed to be checked.

    But New York-based Human Rights Watch had criticized Sunday's poll as corrupted by pre-election irregularities.

    HRW said that the ruling party has threatened voters by telling they could lose food assistance, public-sector jobs, loans and educational opportunities if they voted against the ruling party.

    "Behind an orderly facade, the government pressured, intimidated and threatened Ethiopian voters," said Rona Peligal, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch.

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