Human Rights Organizations, International media report election flaws ESAT News (June 26, 2015)

Human Rights Organizations, International media report election flaws

ESAT News (June 26, 2015)

International Human Rights Organization, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International,) and International Media have voiced their concerned on election related incidences in Ethiopia. They narrated how EPRDF marginalized opposition political parties to stay on power during the May 2015 election.

In a statement sent to ESAT, Human Rights Watch says that 100 percent claim of the parliamentary seats by the ruling party should always ring alarm bells. It says opposition candidates face “extraordinary challenges and nearly all avenues for citizens to engage in political debate are closed.” The organization further said that, “The political space has been further restricted: the independent media has been decimated, civil society groups virtually eliminated, and peaceful public demonstrations quelled, sometimes by force.”

Human Rights watch criticized the US and the EU for their silence during the crackdown on opposition forces but congratulating EPRDF after the election.

Graham Peebles, director and founder of the Create Trust says that “the EPRDF speaks generously of democracy and freedom, but it act in violation of democratic principles, tramples on universal human rights, ignores international law and violently controls the people.”

Reuters, Bloomberg, the Sun, Daily Mail, and Aljazeera media outlets told stories that the opposition party members have gone through before, during, and after the election.

The Voice of America quoted a senior opposition political figure, Dr. Merera Gudina who reportedly said that the peaceful struggle did not bring anything new for the youth. Dr. Merera was quoted saying Ethiopian politics would lead to more violent form if the government keeps on suffocating moderate voices.

The chairman of Blue Party, Engineer Yilkal Getnet, told Voice of America that currently the struggle is a question of freedom, not about the policy, a struggle to transition from dictatorship to democracy.” The New York Times quoted Engineer Yilkal who said, “A 100 percent win should never be accepted as reality.”

AFP quoting Addis Standard reported that the 100 percent win by the ruling party in Ethiopia was “tragic demise of the multiparty system."

Citing Rights group’s documents, AFP showed how the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Party clamp down opposition groups and intimidate, arrest and torture journalists and opposition party supporters using anti-terrorism law to stifle dissidents and critics.

Al Jazeera used visual infographic data that the opposition did not win even the single seat it secured at the previous election in a poll it says was unfair.

It is recalled that Medrek and Blue Party rejected the results of the national parliamentary election.