I am writing this letter to request your support for a free, fair and transparent election in Ethiopia. Nationwide elections in Ethiopia are scheduled for May 2005 and we have reasons to believe that the human and democratic rights of the opposition candidates and voters will not be protected. Already plagued by deep political, economic, social problems and violation of human rights, Ethiopia may sink into even deeper problems if another fraudulent election is allowed to take place.
Recalling that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government has a history of rigging elections, a bill in support of free and fair elections had been reintroduced for consideration in the US House of Representatives. The proposed legislation made a welcome start as H.R.5321 in the 108th Congress in October 2004, but time ran out before it was considered. This year Representative Mike Honda (D-CA) has reintroduced the bill as H.R.935, and Representative Edward Royce (R-CA) Vice Chairman of Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, has volunteered as a co-sponsor.
The opposition political parties are very concerned that, unless a strong international pressure is exerted, they will be once again marginalized through coercion and intimidation. In the absence of an independent electoral commission, equal access to the government-controlled media, and guarantee for the safety of voters and opposition political parties, the two previous national elections under Prime Minister Zenawi were staged largely to impress donor countries and organizations. They were characterized by intimidation and fraud as widely documented by independent international observers.
According to the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and the African-American Institute report, in the 1992 elections in Ethiopia, Prime Minster Melese Zenawi’s government used tactics such as intimidation of peasant farmers with denial of agricultural amenities if they didn’t vote for that government, preventing opposition candidates and voters from registering, forcing people to identify themselves by their ethnicity, and preventing those who simply identified themselves as Ethiopians from registering.
Once again in the 2000/2001 elections, the Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human Rights (NORDEM), which studied the track record of Ethiopian elections during a ten-year period, documented all kinds of manipulation, from pressure on candidates to withdraw to intimidation of voters, from preventing potential opposition voters from casting their votes to allowing supporters to vote twice or more, from stuffing ballot boxes to manipulation of the counting and reporting.
The African-American Institute and the Washington based National Democratic Institute reported that Ethiopia’s first elections “fell considerably short of empowering through the vote. A German observer group stated that the elections represented “sterile, surreal and wholly formalistic affair,” and concluded that given various acts of intimidation, the elections “should not be taken as a fair and free reflection of the democratic will of the people.”
In light of the above reports and observations, it is obvious that the voters and opposition candidates are once again going to fight a losing uphill battle in the forthcoming May 2005 elections. That is why it will be sincerely appreciated if your office would kindly assist us by urging Congress to vote for the bill, send a representative observer and/or give support in any way you may deem appropriate, as this will be a major milestone for Ethiopians to have their first free and fair election.
Respectfully,
Your signature
SUPPORT FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS IN ETHIOPIA COSPONSOR HR 935
Dear Colleague:
Please join us in urging the Government of Ethiopia to hold free and fair national elections in May of 2005.
Ethiopia, a nascent democratic government, held national elections in 2000 that were judged by the State Department to be generally free and fair, but were “marred by serious irregularities, including killings, disappearances, voter intimidation and harassment, and unlawful detentions of opposition party supporters, particularly in the southern region.”
While Ethiopia did move quickly to address these elections issues, even going so far as to re-run elections in areas where the results have been disputed, significant structural reforms are required to ensure the integrity of future Ethiopian elections. In particular, Ethiopia must modify the constitution of the Elections Board which sets and enforces the rules that govern elections. Currently, this board is comprised solely of members of the ruling party. The government must also bolster voter education programs.
I have introduced HR 935, legislation that offers Ethiopia the guidance, assistance and tools it needs to improve its national electoral system. Most importantly, the bill authorizes funding for USAID to educate Ethiopians about their democratic rights and responsibilities, a critically important goal for a people accustomed to the abuses and restrictions of a harsh socialist regime.
This legislation has the support of the Vice Chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, Congressman Ed Royce. Please join us in helping forward the cause of democracy in Ethiopia by cosponsoring HR 935.
For more information please contact Vivek Kothari in Congressman Honda’s office at 202-225-2631 or [email protected].
Sincerely,
Mike Honda
Chair, Congressional Caucus on Ethiopia and Ethiopian Americans
