The senior official, who hid his identity under the cover of anonymity, told AP that the “official results” released today were uncontested. In its news wire headlined “Ethiopian ruling party, allies short of majority for govt”, AP reported that the party and its allies were 11 seats short of the majority needed to government.”

“The uncontested results of 435 seats of the 547-member lower house of the legislature gave 242 seats to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front while smaller, allied political parties have 22 seats, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the results have not yet been officially released,” AP reported.

However, it turned out that eighty-eight of the 128 results declared were those which Complaint Investigation Panels (CIPs) recommended upholding of provisional results and the remaining 40 were the ones rejected by the Complaints Review Body (CRB) after a hearing despite the strong protests by the main opposition parties, UEDF and CUD.

The two opposition parties have already branded investigations into alleged election fraud a failure, saying their representatives in panels probing the charges have been arrested, beaten and killed by pro-government militias. They indicated last week that they would take legal action against what they called a totally unacceptable practice of the ruling party and NEBE.

The parties have also called on the NEBE to stop working against the democratic process in collusion with the ruling party to give it an advantage in the “farcical and unfair election probs.”

The said official created the impression that the opposition did not contest the results while they had already condemned the NEBE for its flagrant partisanship with the ruling party. “The official’s conduct violated the code of conduct that NEBE. They don’t even respect their own rules,” said Mehari Negash.

According to opposition sources the unfair election probes, which have been undertaking under threats, intimidation and imprisonment of opposition supporters and sympathizers, is expected to prove nothing but the resolve of the ruling party and its brainchild, the NEBE, to cling to power despite being rejected by the people.

After protests defying a controversial government ban, on 8th June 2005, the ruling party resorted to terrorist tactics of killings, intimidations, mass arrests prompting strong international condemnations. The Prime Minister defended his actions saying he gave orders to put down “insurrection.” Diplomatic sources believe that the PM has in effect admitted giving orders for the massacre of stone-throwing civilians, which put him in precarious political future. If an independent inquiry commission finds him responsible, he could be impeached and face trials, which all depends on the strength of the judicial system.

Ethiopians across the country have been caught in uncertainties, as most believe that the Prime Minister has stolen the people’s vote in collusion with NEBE. Many Ethiopians say they have lost confidence in the whole process of election. “A new election must be held as soon as practically possible. The people don’t want to be ruled by Meles Zenawi, who never qualifies to be our leader. We need a leader that truly represents the interests of Ethiopians, ” says Abera Lema, a college lecturer.

He said an interim government aimed at organising a truly fair elections within a year should be formed to end the political stalemate which has caused a great deal of tension and polarisation in the poor nation, which is facing another cycle of famine.