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Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)

Ethiopia: Beyene Sees Beauty Contest of the Incumbent

5 May 2008

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interview

The ruling party claimed a landslide victory during the recent local and by-elections, and is in control of all local administrative structures across the country. Opposition parties, in particular the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), say there was no election, but rather the elections were a "beauty contest" held among members of the ruling party.

A few days ahead of the elections held two weeks ago, it withdrew its over 10,000 candidates from the contest, before it was joined by the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), which did the same in the second week of the elections with 6,000 of its candidates. Endale Assefa, staff writer, sat down with Beyene Petros (Prof) to get an idea of why opposition leaders resorted to a politics of boycott instead of electoral engagement. Beyene also has a message for members of the public.

Is it true that you withdrew from the recent local and by-elections because the international community paid little attention to them in contrast to those of May 2005?

The international community has its own understanding and assumptions. As donor members of this community, they have an agenda of ensuring that democratization is well practiced in Ethiopia. Elections are, ultimately a question of democracy. They invest a lot of money in this regard to the parliament, mass media, and the electoral agency. We lobby for them to enhance fair elections in this country so that all political parties and the people can move freely before, during and after elections.

They asked us whether we were comfortable with the present election environment. They frequently ask us if we would proceed with the elections. What we have learnt in the process was that the diplomatic community was also frustrated because the administration was blocking them from supporting the democratization process.

For instance, the administration told them that foreign observers were prohibited from monitoring the current elections. It has to be emphasized that observers are crucial in creating consensuses among eligible political parties in any electoral process.

The international community later on came up with the idea of giving training to the civic society organizations and NGO members who could serve as observers. The NEBE remained ambiguous about this suggestion, sometime giving a positive signal and at other times claiming that NGOs have not been registered to monitor elections. The issue was kept hanging in the air up until two weeks before the election when they decided that donors could not deal with them. These civic society organizations and NGOs were deliberately denied registration.

NEBE had previously held the view that diplomats residing in the country could observe the election process, yet subsequently changed their mind during the latest elections. Diplomats were told not to come within a 500m radius at any of the polling stations. This indeed was a deliberate manipulation of the election procedure, as without observer monitoring its credibility cannot be endorsed.

We withdrew from the recent elections because of the illegal and unjustified measures taken by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and the ruling party. The situation of our withdrawal accidentally coincided with that of the international community, although we had different reasons for our respective actions. The way the elections were managed was illegal. We appealed to the NEBE to stop this, and its implementing bodies shut the door on us. They did not register our candidates for the elections.

Tesfaye Mengesha, secretary general of the NEBE, told this newspaper last week that over 10,000 people were registered from your party?

He is just a government assigned person; it is a pity that he says many things that are far from the truth. At one point, he had said that they had given ID cards to 15 observers, and this was not true. We have records that show how many candidates of ours registered, where and when. But the number of people given ID cards compared to that posted in the election paper by the NEBE was quite small. Registration has preliminary steps: There is what they call Volume 03 to be filled, and then comes Volume 04 and 05. At 06, the final step, candidates are given ID cards.

NEBE has not registered all our candidates. For that matter, it did not need to register all candidates presented because they should answer some basic questions. But, the administration continuously erased names of candidates on allegations and pretexts simply meant to justify their 'righteous' acts. For instance, they registered a young man and refused to register his father, claiming that he was not older than 18. Here is the worst example: A father of 10 from the rural areas where there are no ID cards was denied registration as he was considered under age. Testimonials from three people in such places where there are no ID cards should have worked as references for potential candidates.

In these unfortunate circumstances, they have cut down the number of our candidates by almost half.

Although we tried to find out the number of our candidates who had actually been registered by the NEBE, we were not told. Yet they told the diplomatic community that 10,115 people had been registered from UEDF, despite the fact that what we presented were 11,143 people. Of these, only 6,495 people were actually registered by the NEBE.

Most of our candidates were registered in Southern Nations, Nationalities and People (SNNPR) State. In Oromia, they blocked our participaton in the elections as candidates who had letters of endorsement from us were either arrested for a week, beaten up or simply disappeared on us. Four of our members of parliament were beaten; their public address system was taken away from them when they were campaigning. This was what happened to Merera Gudina (PhD).

You have said to the press, a day before the end of the recent elections, that your goal in this election was to claim power. You have even accepted the nomination of your party for the country's presidency under the EPRDF administration. Is every move of yours motivated by a desire to gain power?

I find this question to be rather ingenious. I do not know why you ask this question. First of all, every political question is a question of power; period! Otherwise, what would be the reason behind the political game? There is a saying in the locality where I was born: If you have an unwieldy bull, you should take it with the handy ones to the market. After you sell the difficult one, you take all the good ones back home.

Yet, we cannot be part of the drama that the ruling party is enacting. We are serious, professionals, and busy people. We are not in armed struggle to overthrow the ruling party, nor do we believe that it is the right way of struggle in Ethiopia today. Neither is abstinence from taking part in any of the political struggles. We are here to make a difference from within the system. But, to say UEDF has a strong desire for power is a cheap shot.

I am not posing this question to your party; it is directed to you?

I want to be a symbol for others and that would be my best achievement. Yet, I do not live by benefits obtained from political leftovers. I earn my monthly income from the Addis Abeba University; I am a full time member of staff there. What I obtained from Parliament is an ID, which gives me nothing more than an easy passage to some areas where there is tight security. I do not live in the house that is given to members of parliament by the state.

I was persuaded by my colleagues to bid for the presidency; it was a group decision though I knew supporters of the ruling party would not have supported it. My colleagues started to ask why they could not nominate someone who was well educated, credible and experienced [from the opposition]. The idea was to test the EPRDF in such a way, too. All the opposition parties in Parliament said no to this proposition of presidency but I accepted that role. That was all.

As a politician, one should be in a position to predict the outcome of a political process. I knew that supporters of the ruling party in Parliament would not have voted for me. However, it was important, in terms of history, to tell that oppositions have gone that far in the political struggle in Ethiopia. We should learn to swallow our pride for this important political stride and at the same time, expose ourselves to those who raise such cheap questions. But, my intension was really symbolic.

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