Ethiopia polls 'credible': African observer mission

Ethiopia polls 'credible': African observer mission

Ethiopia's election polls have been passed as credible, peaceful and calm as described by the AU observation commission

World Bulletin / News Desk

An observation mission dispatched by the African Union (AU) to monitor Sunday's parliamentary polls in Ethiopia has described the elections as "credible".

"Generally, the election was credible, peaceful, and calm," mission chief Hifikepunye Pohamba said while presenting a preliminary report at a press briefing in Addis Ababa.

"The 29 AU observer teams visited 356 polling stations in their areas of deployment," Pohamba, a former Namibian president, said.

"Some 64.5 percent of the polling stations visited by the mission were located in rural areas, while 35.5 percent were located in urban areas," he added.

According to Pohamba, 98.7 percent of the country's polling stations opened on time and all election materials were delivered on schedule and in appropriate quantities.

"At 95 percent of the polling stations visited, the mission observed that the secrecy of the vote was guaranteed," he said.

"In a few cases where the secrecy of the vote was not guaranteed, it was due to the absence of polling booths, coupled with the overcrowding of voters inside the polling station," he added.

In terms of women's participation, he said the mission was happy to see an increase in the number of women elected to parliament – from 11 in 1995 to a total of 152 in 2010.

In the mission's report, Pohamba said that, in around 21 percent of the stations visited, presiding officers had failed to show that the ballot box was empty before polling began.

"It is important to note that the simple act of showing that the ballot box was empty before opening the poll contributes to confidence-building and transparency," he said.

The mission also noted that, at around 23 percent of the polling stations visited, there were campaign posters hung within the parameters of the stations and, in some instances, individuals were openly soliciting votes.

The mission also observed campaigning inside polling stations at 23 percent of the stations visited.

Pohamba also said ballot boxes were not serialized as they should have been, prompting the mission to call on the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) to "put in place measures and procedures to enhance public trust in the electoral process by adopting serialized ballot papers with duplicates".

The NEBE, the report added, should also "undertake more training of independent observers and party/candidate agents to introduce a more systematic approach to their work and ensure they produce reports that would contribute to post-election reviews".

Ethiopians went to the polls nationwide on Sunday to elect a new parliament and members of regional state councils.

Some 36.8 million Ethiopians, including 17.8 million women, are registered to cast votes in the elections

Source : worldbulletin