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ADDIS ABABA-The participating parties have stressed that making the upcoming elections democratic, free, credible and participatory would constitute a cornerstone of democracy for Ethiopia and future generations.
Ethiopian National Electoral Board (NEBE) Communications Advisor Soleyana Shimeles said it is widely recognized that NEBE is empowered to provide the legal, regulatory and operational scaffold for the conduct of elections. NEBE’s operational preparations for the VI General Elections are well advanced and about 50,000,000 electorates are expected to participate.
When asked how counterfeiting issues, if any, are addressed, Soleyana clarified that there are many ways devised by the board to mitigate the misrepresentation of election materials and identify them well.
NEBE will apply various scams well to identify and mitigate ways to complete the electoral process and make the election results credible among the Ethiopian population. These forms of counterfeiting identification and mitigation will be well incorporated in all chapters and phases, he added.
The spokesman for the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Tolara Adeba, for his part, said that we reached a peaceful struggle leaving aside the army assuming that the government is committed and well
willing than ever to hold fair, free, participatory and democratic national elections.
NEBE is expected to establish conditions conducive to all and invite all competing parties to play their respective roles by treating them fairly and fairly. In addition, the government has to broaden the political landscape so that all the contending parties freely carry out their activities and participate in the elections, freely disseminating their idea and manifesto at any time and place that suits them.
He also said that bureaucratic red ribbons must also be corrected; there should be no ban on the movements of other parties. For example, some of our offices are closed and some of our members are in detention.
The parties should not say ‘only our idea needs to be heard and entertained’. There must be a free completion and the field must be open to all, then the electorate decides, he added.
The public should be informed in a civilized way that “Choose what you think is democratic, viable and responsible, and the way the parties preach should be that way. All parties, including the ruling party, should act accordingly. Those constructive works They must be framed and very entertaining, ”said Tolosa.
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Tigistu Awolu, president of the Unity Party for Democracy and Justice, also expressed that they have planned to present themselves well and sell their idea, mainly to move in cooperation with others, merge or not.
The first past, the post-election system has its own serious weaknesses, as it was monopolizing and marginalized rather than mixed and parallel, which gives value to votes, he said.
According to Tigistu, whatever the cost, elections must be democratic, fair, free and trustworthy. Otherwise it should not be acceptable even if it is mixed and parallel like what TPLF recently carried out in the state. It was not democratic, since they followed what they were used to before: the first after the mail.
There should be a common understanding and agreement between the parties to arrive at a democratic electoral thinking outside the box: an ethnocentric package to solve accumulated problems. We have to reach a political and legal consensus, since we have a good nation common to all: Ethiopia, emphasized Tigist.
Holding a round table is of the utmost importance to address all pitfalls and help the nation build democracy and hold democratic and reliable elections, he suggested.
The national elections postponed after the COVID-19 outbreak should be carried out in keeping with the national precautionary measures that the Ministry of Health cascaded in an attempt to combat the spread of the pandemic, everyone opined.
