May 29, 2005
The results are in
So it all seems to be over - as far as the official provisional results are concerned. At the time of writing the EPRDF has 271 seats - just three short of claiming an overall majority by itself. But four smaller parties allied to the EPRDF have also won 14 seats which pushes the EPRDF into power.
So what's next? There are still the claims of foul play at the polling stations to investigate. The opposition has raised questions about 139 constituencies, the EPRDF about 50. According to AP, the parties have to provide proof by June 3 or have their complaints dismissed by the National Election Board.
The opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) called for mass prayer protests today. I've just been up to my nearest Orthodox church - Medhanealem on the road to the airport - and bumped into Engineer Gezachew Shiferaw, the CUD candidate who won Addis Ababa's Woreda 17 (which makes him my MP).
He said that the people gathered round the church were responding to the CUD's call. There was no easy way to check his claim - I didn't want to interrupt people mid-prayer to ask what they were praying about. But, after two visits to the church this morning, I must say that I haven't see a single political banner or CUD T-shirt. To me it looked like the normal Sunday morning turn-out.
Posted by aheavens at May 29, 2005 6:56 AM