EUROPEAN UNION ELECTION OBSERVATION MISSION ETHIOPIA 2005

Mission Statement
24 May, 2005

ASSESMENT OF VOTE COUNTING AND RELEASE OF ELECTORAL RESULTS

The European Union Election Observation Mission regrets the way in which the counting of the votes at the constituency level is being conducted as well as the way in which the release of results is being handled by the electoral authorities, the government and the political parties, especially the EPRDF. Contrary to voting day when the people of Ethiopia demonstrated a high sense of citizen responsibility and patience, and contrary to vote counting at the polling stations, where order and transparency prevailed, the following irregular practices are of concern:

1. In a press appearance on Monday 16, EPRDF claimed victory in the absence of any results having been made public by the National Electoral Board. A similar statement was released on May 23.
2. Ten days after the election, although electoral results had been posted outside the polling stations in most of the country, the National Electoral Board has only released results from 121 out of 547 constituencies.
3. Since election day, the state-owned media have been releasing on a daily basis provisional, unofficial results mainly showing the partial victories of the EPRDF in a number of constituencies and regions across the country. However, the same media outlets have ignored press conferences or any other statement about results made by opposition parties. For example, on May 18, while international media (e.g. CNN and BBC) covered the press conference by CUD, Ethiopian TV and Radio Ethiopia as well as the next day editions of the state-owned newspapers Addis Zemen and The Ethiopia Herald completely ignored it.
4. Regarding the European Union Election Observation Mission Preliminary Statement of May 17, the state-owned media reported the positive side of the statement while disregarding any critical comments.

These practices, taken as a whole, are seriously undermining the transparency and fairness of the elections. They also risk increasing the scope for manipulation and consequently putting in doubt public confidence in the process. The European Union Election Observation Mission would like to recall that the state media has a duty to report on post election events in an even-handed manner. This duty includes allowing all parties access to the media, albeit while respecting the public interest.