General Election in Ethiopia (2015)

547 members of the lower house of Ethiopian parliament are elected in single-member constituencies using a relative majority system . ^[3] The official election results were announced one month after their completion. ^[4] Of the 36.8 million registered in Ethiopia voters, about 93.2% participated in the elections, ^[5] . Almost 1.4 million (3.3%) of the total number of votes who came to the polls were declared invalid. This number exceeded the number of votes cast for an opposition party, highlighting the difficult circumstances for the opposition in the elections. Invalid ballots may be discarded as such for a variety of reasons in accordance with Ethiopian electoral law. As stated in the Ethiopian newspaper The Reporter after the election: “the ballot is considered invalid when the voter’s identity is revealed, the ballot is not indicated or it is difficult to determine the voter's intention, [they voted] for a larger number of candidates than the one allowed. But, as it was witnessed during the counting of votes at some polling stations, to reject ballots as invalid was not always a clear conclusion. ” ^[6]

The elections were controlled ( NEBE ), which has about 43,500 polling stations in all 547 constituencies. According to the official English website, “The Council is accountable to the House of People’s Representatives and is an independent and autonomous electoral body with its own legal personality.” The Council consists of nine members, appointed by the Prime Minister and appointed by the House of People's Representatives, which allows the ruling party to control the election process almost completely. ^[7]

A total of 1,828 candidates claimed 547 seats in the House of People's Representatives, of which nine were independent, and the rest represented 44 parties. Of the 1,828 candidates, 1,527 were men and 801 women. ^[8] The RDFEN nominated the most candidates: 501 to the House of Representatives, including 187 women, and 1350 to regional assemblies, of which 636 were women.

To help voters make informed decisions, the Joint Council of Political Parties selected nine topics as the agenda for television debates between political parties in planned television discussions: “Multiparty system and building democracy”; "Federalism"; "Agricultural and rural policy"; “Urban Development and Industrial Policy”; “Good governance and the rule of law”; "National security"; "Foreign policy"; "Infrastructure"; "Education and health." ^[9] RDNEF worked to improve its image by training civil servants, university teachers and students, managing to expand its number to 7 million.

These were the first general elections in Ethiopia since 2012, and they allowed Ethiopian citizens to take part in politics, although the elections themselves can hardly be called competitive. ^[10] As described earlier, there were opposition parties, but their campaign opportunities were incredibly limited by state censorship. Thus, security forces have repeatedly thwarted attempts by citizens to protest against the policies of the ruling party.

During the election campaign, according to some of its participants, there were obstacles to campaigning. For example, Jonathan Tesfay, chief public officer of the (in Amharic - Semayavi Party), said that on April 1, 2015, party president Yilkal Ghetnet planned to go to the USA to campaign among the local Ethiopian diaspora, but authorities canceled his passport. ^[eleven]

Censorship in Ethiopia makes it difficult for members of opposition parties to campaign effectively. ^[12] Opposition party leaders were arrested, including one month after the election.

Elections in the Gimbo Gavata constituency were postponed due to clashes between supporters of the RDFEN and independent candidate Ashebr Voldegiorgis, who filed official complaints against the ruling party after the second place in the region with 17.7% of the vote. ^{[6] The} vote took place on June 14th. ^[13]

House of Representatives

The elections showed that women receive a more favorable percentage of seats, with men occupying about 61% of the seats, and women - about 39% [6]. ^[6]

Regional Assemblies

The issue of fairness of the elections caused a lot of discussion and conflict, especially in the framework of the political climate of Ethiopia. Thus, the chairman of the Electoral Council, Merga Bekana, stated that the elections were free, fair and democratic. ” ^[14] The opposition, however, disputed the results and called the election "undemocratic shame." ^[15] The opposition has long talked about the transformation of Ethiopia into a one-party state and regarded the 2015 elections as evidence of its suspicions.

The views of the opposition, to some extent, coincided with the views of the US Department of State . His spokesman said they were "deeply concerned about ongoing restrictions on civil society, the media, opposition parties and independent voices and views." ^[16] It is interesting that former US President Barack Obama contradicted the views of the State Department, publicly stating at a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia that in his opinion the government was democratically elected. ^[17] Following this statement, Obama faced intense criticism, especially among opposition groups and Ethiopian journalists.

There were no international election observers from Western countries , only observers from African Union countries were present. The European Union refused to participate on the grounds that Ethiopia ignored the recommendations it had made after the previous round of elections, which were also won in a dubious way. Комментируя это решение ЕС, представитель правительства Эфиопии Редван Хусейн заявил в интервью « Голосу Америки », что это решение не имело никакого отношения к выборам. ^[18]

По приглашению правительства Эфиопии председатель Комиссии Африканского союза Нкосазана Дламини-Зума развернула Миссию Африканского союза по наблюдению за выборами ( англ. African Union Election Observation Mission, AUEOM ) на парламентских выборах 24 мая 2015 года в Федеративной Демократической Республике Эфиопии . ^[19] Наблюдатели Африканского союза отметили, что политический климат был спокойным и стабильным. Однако были некоторые опасения по поводу закона о СМИ, закона о борьбе с терроризмом и Закона о гражданском обществе, который, возможно, ограничивал возможности граждан участвовать в политической деятельности. Наблюдатели Африканского союза также отметили, что Национальный избирательный совет Эфиопии (NEBE) был адекватным источником ресурсов для управления выборами. Хотя NEBE совместно с эфиопским органом по радиовещанию выделил для всех политических партий 600 часов бесплатного эфирного эфира и 700 столбцов в государственных печатных СМИ, оспаривающих, наблюдатели из Африканского союза сообщали, что некоторые политические партии утверждали, что средства массовой информации не могут передавать сообщения в своих первоначальных формах.

В день выборов 29 наблюдателей из Африканского союза посетили 365 избирательных участков, 64,5 % из которых находились в сельских районах и 35,5 % в городских районах. ^[20] Наблюдатели отметили, что день выборов прошёл в мирной и спокойной атмосфере без серьёзных инцидентов. Однако они также отметили, что был дисбаланс с точки зрения партийного представительства с преобладающими партиями, которые были лучше представлены. AUEOM также отметил несоответствия в процедурах подсчёта, в частности, процессов согласования избирательных бюллетеней в некоторых из посещённых избирательных участков. «Например, на избирательном участке, расположенном на площадке 10 в вореде Джиджига в Сомали , было отмечено, что количество поданных голосов превысило число зарегистрированных избирателей на станциях. Партийные агенты присутствовали, но не выдвигали никаких возражений в отношении расхождений». ^[20] AUEOM делает вывод, что парламентские выборы были спокойными, мирными и заслуживающими доверия, дав возможность эфиопскому народу сделать свой выбор.