Ethiopia's Current Election - 'Eliminating the Contestant Ahead of the Match'
It could well be said that literally no election had been completed happily to the minimal satisfaction of many contending political actors, and notably to a fair contentment of the Ethiopian people, ever since the assumption of power by the ruling Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. Nor is it uncommon to hear the major opposition parties blaming the ruling party for imposing upon them unbearable financial, physical, psychological and morale constrains before or during every election.
Often, at the center of dissension are issues that have to do with the questionable impartiality of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and other state institutions directly or indirectly impacting the process and outcome of general elections. Owing to this, there were even occasions in the past whereby some opposition parties have gone to the extent of boycotting the ensuing election all together.
In somewhat unprecedented manner this time around however instead of the major opposition parties boycotting the election, it rather seems that they are to be systematically pushed away by the incumbent, as it were, 'eliminating the contestant ahead of the match'.
This assertion bases itself on the recent decision of NEBE that apparently legitimated a few disgruntled individuals at the expense of the larger party-bodies of two relatively stronger opposition parties - Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), and All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP)-that effectively disqualified them from taking part in the upcoming election.
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