Ethiopia's newest opposition party builds its base among urban youth

In Ethiopia's first national elections since long-serving Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, opponents hope to win seats in urban areas. 

The leader of Ethiopia's newest opposition party hopes discontent among urban youth will win him support in a weekend election that could otherwise be a clean sweep for the ruling party in Africa's most populous nation after Nigeria.

Over 36 million people have registered for the May 24 polls, the country's first election since long-serving leader Meles Zenawi died in 2012.

His Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has been in power for almost a quarter of a century, and faces no reasonable prospect of defeat – the current 547-seat parliament has just one opposition member.

Yilekal Getinet, chairman of the three-year old Blue Party, or Semayawi in Amharic, says it originally put forward 400 candidates but electoral authorities cut the list to 139.

Semayawi expects to win seats in the urban areas in spite of such obstacles.

"The people's anger is increasing from time to time. By the strong opposition from the people and demands for further changes we may win in towns," he said.

Semayawi, which wants less government involvement in the economy, sees itself as offering change in Ethiopian politics, with the vast majority of its members younger than 35.

Some 57 opposition parties are taking part in the polls but analysts say they present no real threat.

The opposition won an unprecedented 147 seats in an election 10 years ago but most of them did not join parliament, alleging the ballot had been rigged. Many of then spent two years behind bars on charges of inciting violence.

LOTTERY

Yilekal says over 50 party members have been detained by police, and accuses the government of unfairly allocating financial resources to the ruling party and depriving opposition parties of television air time, claims rejected by authorities.

Yilekal's name will not be on the ballot after he was disqualified by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), which ran a draw to pick candidates for 52 parties that had never taken part in an election.

NEBE chairperson Merga Bekana said most of Semayawi's candidates had broken electoral rules by belonging to another party, adding the board had been tough on all sides.

Two ruling party members have been arrested in recent days on charges of breaking the law, Merga said, adding the environment was "conducive" to open politics.

Yilekal was not reassured. "There may be an increment in some numbers but that does not show that Ethiopia is in a democratic process. The whole process is deteriorating," he said. (Editing by Ed Cropley and Dominic Evans)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Ethiopia's newest opposition party builds its base among urban youth
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2015/0519/Ethiopia-s-newest-opposition-party-builds-its-base-among-urban-youth
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe