ADDIS ABABA – The ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi could not win a single seat at any polling station where there were foreign and opposition observers. A case in point is the ruling party’s humuliating defeat from Addis Ababa to Ambo all the way to Nekempte and Arjo, opposition leader of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) Merera Gudina said in a radio interview on Sunday.

“The ruling party has virtually been rejected by the Ethiopian people; all what it is doing now is to snatch power by stealing votes, intimidating, detaining and killing opposition supporters. This is a ruling regime which deploys heinous methods like sparking ethnic conflicts in a bid to remain in power. Recent student clashes at Ambo College are, among others, orchestrated by the ruling party.

There were about 300 foreign observers. Some of them, like those from the Carter Center, have been leaving, and some of them may stay for awhile. The very few number of international election observers has created an opportune moment for the ruling party to launch widespread fraud throughout the country.

The fraud is conducted by intimidating, detaining or even killing election observers or opposition supporters. In Shashemene town, for instance, the ruling party has killed two of our Oromo National Congress (ONC) members. The ruling party is carrying out naked criminal activities in areas where it said had support of the farmers. The Ethiopian peasants, like the urban youth who have no future under the existing regime, have discarded the ruling party which is resentfully known for worsening the suffering of the people. It is this regime which is, despite a popular rejection, bragging about “winning most of the seats” and would form the next government.

Where is it that the regime has won even in the “rural areas”? What happened to the peasants in Harar? The degree of terror in Harar was so much even the peasants had to ask political asylum at the regional branch of the Red Cross. The crime of the farmers was they rejected the regime they had known for the last 14 years. Now the victims of the government are fleeing for their lives from a government that wants to hunt them down. Likewise, in eastern Arssi, Jimma and Illubabor, peripheral areas where international observers couldn’t reach have fallen to widespread terror.

Where else can the ruling party claim it has the support of the people? Even in Tigrai, where the ruling party’s TPLF boasts of coming from, ruling party hauled all seats because it was competing against itself after Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) – coalition member of the opposition UEDF – candidates were forced out of the race in an environment terrorized by the ruling party. We know the people of Tigrai; they are enduring the worst form of repression than anywhere in the country. The ruling regime has stripped the people of their constitutional rights. So it is understandable under what circumstances the ruling party is talking about its “victory” in Tigrai region. What all this shows is that the governing party has lost in Oromia, Amhara, Southern regions, regions that constitute the bulk of our country. But it is relying on harassing, detaining and even killing people when it’s shamelessly declaring itself winner of the elections.

(The above report was composed based on an interview Dr Merera Gudina, chair of the opposition UEDF and ONC, gave to Radio Dejen. – Ethiomedia.com).