Ethiopia elections will not bring peace | Ethiopia

Asked by Al Jazeera’s anchor Riz Khan to return in May 2008 when Eritrea holds elections, President Isaias Afwerki asked “what elections?” In response, he publicly declared his desire to rule the world forever without charge.

Thirteen years later, an African friend across the border in Ethiopia seems to be offering the same. By pushing for elections in the middle of the civil war and the crackdown on opposition parties before they took place, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed continued to disrupt elections that had already been disrupted. Obviously, he, as Afwerki, aims to be in control at any cost as far as he can.

On June 21, amid national elections and boycotts by opposition parties, the country went to the polls. One week later, the government declared war on Tigray and released its troops. On July 10, when people wondered why the Ethiopian army had been humiliated by the Tigrayan Army, Abiy announced the election.

The prime minister is trying to lay the groundwork for a system similar to that of the Afwerki nation. Not only are they weakening the electoral institutions but they are also quickly eliminating the international organizations that have been established in this country.

Deceptive choice

After postponing parliamentary elections – the first of which was scheduled for August 2020 – citing the epidemic and extending it illegally, Abiy decided to go ahead with it not only to prevent the epidemic from escalating, but also to see the country go through civil war in another area and serious instability.

In Tigray and Oromia, Amhara, Harari, Somali and Afar regions, violence has been rampant for months. And despite the tragic plight of millions of Ethiopians in these areas and blaming them for the massacre and brutality, the government did not delay the election so that they could negotiate with the warring parties and negotiate with the opposition, prosecute war crimes, help homeless people return home and to ensure that the Ethiopian minor can exercise their voting right in a democratic manner.

As a result, out of 547 constituencies, 102 constituencies in Tigray, Somalia, Harari, Afar, and Benishangul-Gumuz, representing 18% of the legislature, did not vote.

Outside of the constituencies, there were also major problems with the way the voting took place. Many opposition parties have not been able to initiate appropriate elections, as their leaders were arrested, detained and killed last year. Their members and nominees were harassed and their offices were shot down, prompting some parties to boycott the election. Among them were the Oromo Liberation Front and the Oromo Federalist Congress, a major supporter of the Oromo faction, the largest tribe in Ethiopia of Abiy.

Those who chose to contest the by-elections faced difficulties. In the Amhara region and in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region, voters were beaten and removed from the polls. The National Movement of Amhara, the Afar People’s Party, Balderas for Genuine Democracy and Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice criticized the ruling party for disrupting the vote, having election monitors on their side and pursuing ways to intimidate voters.

“Elections were not free, fair and democratic,” said Balderas for Genuine Democracy.

With protesters ousted from the drug trade, unanimous words of condolence were silenced, and journalists banned, a major victory for the Abiy Prosperity Party was expected. With 410 seats out of 436, the Prime Minister has a hard time convincing Ethiopians and other nations that he did this in a fair election.

The European Union, which has decided not to send observers to vote, dropped the blame, but the United States was ahead: Ethiopia’s national anthem is a barrier to free and fair elections and to the Ethiopians’ commitment. ”

Stability of power

The fraudulent elections and the ongoing conflicts in Ethiopia are all in line with Abiy’s attempt to establish a stable government that establishes power and undermines the Ethiopian federation.

One of Abiy’s first steps was to unite the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) – which had previously ruled the country and formed a de jure organization – into one party, the Prosperity Party.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), one of the largest parties in the EPRDF that has ruled Tigray for many years, decided not to join the movement. After Abiy announced the electoral reform in 2020, Tigray rejected it, citing increasing the Prime Minister’s term of office and threatening human rights. On September 4, Tigray held by-elections in the region, which Abiy declared illegal. Soon, Addis Ababa severed ties with the Tigray government and cut its budget, eventually declaring war and sending troops to the region.

Abiy obviously has a goal to deal with anyone who opposes his efforts to gain power. Surprisingly, when he came to power in 2018, there was hope in the working class that he would eventually assert the rights of the various regions that had faced long-term oppression. But it did not last long. It soon became apparent that he wanted a major central power, and feduroism – which empowers various parts of the country – represented.

What the Abiy government is trying to oppress, must be heard in light of Ethiopia’s one-nation history, coercive coercion and denial of civil rights and the recognition of diverse territories. The 1995 Act sought to address this by establishing an international system that gives indigenous peoples the right to self-determination. Despite the clear implications of the law, Ethiopian federalism has not acted properly.

The temporary growth of independence and independence is a result of the lack of democratic laws that guarantee the racial and religious freedom of Ethiopia.

The battle of vision

Abiy and his ruling party, despite advocating for regional development, are working to eliminate existing organizations. They devour your country with excessive greed and ambition, eager to seize power and power in any way.

Where possible, they apply the laws of the land and when necessary, unconstitutional, inhumane, oppressive, including the killing of conscientious objectors. This is a vision that is not democratic, anti-cultural, and provocative and that threatens the integrity of the state.

On the other side there is the vision of federalism, world power, independence, the river system, independence even, if necessary, independence from the central government. Some members of the ruling party may help to enforce current laws, but they do not have the power to establish Abiy’s vision for the country.

The June 21 elections were designed not to give Ethiopians a fair chance to express their will, but to make the vision more authoritarian. The opposition parties that participated gave the voters the honor of affirming that a stable state with one Ethiopian nation is what the people of all Ethiopians want.

Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. The vote did not bring peace to the country; Instead, it only adds to the tensions and moves Addis Ababa to end the civil war and financial crisis. Ethiopian powers will not bring peace and security; it will only exacerbate conflicts and intensify other conflicts and the threat of regional and international security threats.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor of Al Jazeera.