Ethiopians wish elections bring change to their lives

Gobeze Bilxv said he cannot wait to cast his ballot in Sunday's general elections which he hopes will bring a bright future for the Ethiopians most of whom lived in abject poverty in the east African country.

"I believe the future for Ethiopians is bright if the elections will be held in a peaceful way," said Gobeze, who works for a private bank in the capital Addis Ababa.

"I think every eligible voter will go to the polls," Gobeze said, noting that great changes are now taking place in Ethiopia since Sunday's elections will be the first to be held under an environment that entitled people more freedom to choose.

A total of 36 political parties will vie for seats in Ethiopia's 547-seat lower house of parliament, the Council of People's Representatives. The prime minister will come from the party snatching most seats.

Meanwhile, voters will also elect representatives in nine regional state parliaments that will appoint members of the 112-seat Council of the Federation, the parliament's upper house.

Since the previous two elections were won handily by the ruling party with little challenge from other parties, the upcoming third elections is considered by analysts and ordinary people as a big step forward because it has offered equal chance for other contestants.

"This time we have more parties competing, so people will not stay at home like in the previous elections. They are going to choose the party and the people whom they want to be elected," Gobeze said.

Some 26 million of Ethiopia's 74 million people have registered to vote in the election in Africa's third most populous country, whose current parliament representatives come mostly from the ruling party with its leader having been in power for 14 years.

Political Alternative

A political scientist with Addis Ababa University, Berouk Mfsfin told Xinhua that people have more freedom to voice their political concern now, because "for the first time, people have the alternative to vote."

He recalled the demonstrations held days ago in Addis Ababa, made by 2 million people of the ruling party supporters and it was followed by the bigger number of opposition advocators demonstrating one day later.

"We start from scratch, it's a new beginning, in history, people interact with the politics more actively, which in turn mirrors the freedom we have."

The May 15 contest, only Ethiopia's second real multiparty elections, are seen as a test of its progress toward democracy after centuries of feudalism and decades of administration of the ruling EPRDF party.

Ethiopia held its first democratic elections in 1995, but almost all opposition parties boycotted them.

"They (opposition) have coalition now, they're combining their forces, it's big change .. we have more parties, besides debate, they went door to door to talk people about their programs, such is a big change," said Mfsfin.

Recently, the head of the EU observer mission also praised state radio and television for giving the opposition 54 percent of the air time dedicated to election coverage

In his speech, the former US president Jimmy Carter who led his 50-member team to observe the elections also hailed the efforts made by the government. He said the measures taken by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's EPRDF to allow political opponents access to state-controlled media is a "great progress" being made toward democracy since Ethiopia's first national polls in 1995.

"Opposition are allowed to have ads on TV and radio. They have air time, to fill in their programs, and raise different policy issues," Mfsfin said.

"The opposition will compete in eight regions and two cities, and presented candidates almost in all constituencies, which is one-to-one challenge," he said, adding it's a biggest difference compared with the previous two elections.

More enthusiastic than ever

Ethiopian Information Minister Berekat Simon, also the EPRDF's campaign spokesman said on Saturday that he anticipated 95 percent of the eligible voters will turn out to cast their ballots in 34,000 polling stations across the country.

The head of the European Union delegation has also said the other day he was impressed with how well voters in rural areas were informed about the elections. "People are enthusiastic; people read newspapers; everybody talks about politics, that's big change, people are aware of the policies, they follow the public debate, they are more aware," said Mfsfin.

"Drought, daily life not improving, surviving problems, are concerning most Ethiopians, so people are excited this time, from quite a number of political parties, they can support the party they want to support, to help them change their lives," Mfsfin commented.

Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, accounting for half of GDP, 60 percent of exports, and 80 percent of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices.

Besides, UN officials estimate that more than 360,000 Ethiopian children are likely to suffer severe malnutrition in the next few months, many of them in the Somali region where hunger is a more pressing issue than voting.

An old man driving his cattle to pass the center of the capital city expressed his indifference that as a poor labor, he would rather concentrate on earning his living and improving his business than thinking more of the election issue.

But most people in Addis Ababa still said they wanted to vote for a change. Mfsfin indicated his worries that it is the first time in Ethiopian history to have such kind of elections, so "what I fear is that people are too enthusiastic and violence may flare."

Optimistic parties

The biggest opposition coalition CUD which aims to post the greatest challenge for the ruling party expressed its full confidence in winning the elections one day before it takes place.

"We will win 300 seats in the federal government, exceeding 50 percent of all the seats contested," CUD Chairman Hailu Shawee told Xinhua on Saturday.

He said the opposition is now growing stronger and stronger, and their policies focusing on creation of jobs, effective education, and privatization of land ownership are highly favored by the majority of Ethiopian people.

"We now also have more access to the media, although a small share, through radio and television, it helps us to widely reach the people either in rural areas or in cities like Addis Ababa," which Hailu said is gradually growing to be the stronghold for the opposition through their public education.

Meanwhile EPRDF's campaign spokesman Bereket Simon told Xinhua he predicted the ruling party will win all the seats of the federal parliament.

However, both sides ruled out the possibility that there might be fierce violence between the ruling party and the opposition supporters in the post-election stage. "People will take to the streets and hold peaceful demonstrations if they think the elections is rigged," Hailu said,adding that his party will not provoke any violence and they will ask for reelection or reconfirmation of the results if they think some problems occur.

Source: Xinhua