Ethiopia:opposition party opts for "civil disobedience"after election irregularity

Opposition party suggests “civil disobedience” could be their next way for struggle

By Guyo Imano

MEDREK, the main opposition coalition, rejected both the result and process of the may 24^th parliamentary and regional elections in a press conference.

Preliminary results of the 5^th parliamentary election held on 23^rd  of may 2015 released by NEBE on Wednesday indicated a landslide victory for the ruling coalition. EPRDF sweep all 442 out of 547 parliamentary seats announced by NEBE

Beyene petros, vice chairman of MEDREK expressed their foreknowledge that the election won’t be fair based on institutional problems and past experiences.

When asked by the reporter why they had to take part in election if they already knew it’s not going to be fair, Beyene did not have a hard time and instead confidently states that they witnessed the Ethiopian people’s desire to see the government out of office.

“And we are all able to see that because of our participation in the election in which we awakened the populace” Beyene answered. ”who knows, the next stage in the struggle maybe “civil disobedience.”

The vice chairman also said that the party believes there is a possibility to conduct an election review process after reaching an agreement with the government and members of independent review commission .

Merera Gudina ,the chairman of MEDREK on his part said that the government was desperate in its election misconducts after they dismantled its local organizing system. He presume that it is after that the government used everything including the army to alter election results.