EPRDF, Opposition Parties Still Negotiating on Modalities

March 4, 2017 - Ethiopia's ruling party and 21 opposition political parties have continued to talk about pre-dialogue modalities, according to the Reporter. Putting their differences aside, the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and opposition parties have recently agreed to come to a roundtable discussion to find ways of nurturing the political environment.
The parties met on Friday at the Defense Hall of the House of People’s Representatives (HPR) to discuss modalities of negotiation, which would serve them as a bylaw for their future dialogue.
However, the parties could not agree on rules, but they were able to come to consensus on the objectives of the bylaw, which would be the legal framework.

Participant parties have been debating on the nature of the rule, with some arguing the rule should address exclusively negotiation, while others, including the ruling party, demanded it should also include debate and discussion.
Shiferaw Shigutie, a member of the EPRDF Central Committee, as well as Asmelash Woldesilassie and Abdulaziz Mohamed, chaired the meeting.

Opposition parties were represented by senior officials.
Some, including Beyene Petros of Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum a.k.a. Medrek and Chanie Kebede (PhD) of Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), opposed the inclusion of debate and dialogue on the rule while others, including the ruling party, argued that the inclusion of the two terms will not affect future negotiations.

After a heated debate, the parties agreed to continue their dialogue, and hold the next session on Thursday, March 9, 2017.

Meanwhile, after a long debate the parties agreed on four specific objectives of the rule.
The majority of the parties, except Medrek, reflected similar views with EPRDF regarding the parties that will participate in the dialogue.

EPRDF proposed all peaceful and legal political parties registered by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia to take part at the dialogue, including regional parties that have seats at regional state councils. Medrek, however, insisted only six parties participate at the dialogue as leading negotiators, namely Medrek, Ethiopian Social Democratic Party, Southern Coalition Unity Party, Oromo Federalist Congress, All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP), and Blue Party.

As far as the number of representatives of the parties is concerned, the ruling party suggested each party to have four representatives. Other parties recommended three representatives. (Reporter)