BY MENGESHA AMARE
Though being the right tickets for holding offices and assuming powers, elections, in most of the developing world, are not only unfair but usually appear chaotic and even deadliest. In fact, elections start as competitions over the ballot but most of the time end up with the sounds of bullets particularly at a time of winners’ declaration. Post-election time is marred with deadly protests and clashes as witnessed in African and other developing countries.
Unluckily, moments like the loser congratulating the winner during elections are rare occurrences in undemocratic nations. This reality has been well witnessed in Ethiopia as the country has been having a number of life claiming unrest and chaos during post election scenarios. The 2005 chaotic election was a recent phenomenon and also a smoking gun to witness in recent years.
Learning from the past, Ethiopia, whose democratic practices are nascent, is planning to make the upcoming election not only fair and free but peaceful. Ensuring peace proves more imperative for a country that is seeing its fair share of unrest and turbulences in this regard.
The 6th general election, as was the case in many countries of the world, was postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19 some six months back. The House of the Representatives has postponed the election accepting the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) recommendation that it was impossible to holding the poll election in accordance with the timetable. Consequently, NEBE has canceled its schedule and had suspended activities outlined in the elections timetable.
In fact, the threat of this pandemic has forced many countries to overhang government plans, including elections. Passing a number of ups and downs as well as a range of processes due to a number of factors at national level, the Board proposed that the 6th national elections will be conducted on June 5, 2021.
Yes, either the structural or circumstantial or both aspects of the election processes most of the time influence the types of security threats likely to take place in a particular election. Without a shadow of doubt, the structural design of the electoral process such as the choice of electoral scheme and the way how it is conducted may foster or deter certain threats.
It is also inevitable that the nature of an election makes it vulnerable to a range of security threats against contestant parties, electorates, observation participants, infrastructure and logistics, information and other related materials which have a direct or an indirect bearing to the election. The general public is not exceptional in this regard as everything comes out of this dense realm; either good or bad things have stemmed from the posterity in general.
With a view to addressing the expected or unexpected incidents at pre-election, during election and post elections times, the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and the Ministry of Defense recently brought federal and regional officials and other stakeholders together to discuss the election security plan scheduled by the National Security Council of Ethiopia.
A range of ideas revolving around the election, security issues, and the joint movement of all concerned bodied including the general publics were tabled on discussion during the meeting.
“This plan is a comprehensive election scheme that calls for the concerted effort of all as the issue of peace could by no means be left solely to the government, the Ministry of Defense, federal police and other security institutions; rather it highly demands the amalgamated effort of all,” said Birtukan Mideksa, chairperson of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).
“The upcoming election needs to be accompanied by a peaceful manner. No need of performing an election drama as TPLF had been doing under the guise of a democratic election earlier. The so called five elections have been conducted so far, but no one fulfilled at least a single desired election criterion. All of them were fake ones.
This security plan should also be put into practice with a view to making the election a fair, free, credible and participatory,” said Dr. Aregawi Berhe, Tigray Democratic Party Chairperson.
“As far we are concerned, the NEBE is now an independent body to stand for the constitution and the general public. Unquestionably, it should be. It is believed to be an impartial entity to serve all contestant parties without any form of prejudiced approach,” he added.
Leading the meeting, NEBE Chairperson along with Defense Minister Dr. Kenea Yadeta has elucidated that the plan has aimed at making the upcoming 6th general elections fair, credible, peaceful and democratic; to this end, every citizenry of the nation is duty bound to effectively discharge their respective responsibilities.
She further said that an election security task force has been established for the upcoming elections in a bid to conduct well-organized and credible elections keeping the serenity of the whole scene.
It was also cited that the final results of the elections will be declared from 6-28 June, 2021.
According to Birtukan, the presence of an effective election security, an elevated communication as well as coordination among concerned bodies for the management and security of the election is a significant advantage. It is also of paramount importance in running activities in a well-coordinated and all-encompassing manner.
As learnt from Birtukan, analyzing situations from pre-election to the revelation of the final outcome has to be carried out. Besides, expertise from multiple arenas has to be well employed and invited to back the election process from beginning to the end.
She further said that anticipating and pre-empting security risks, mitigating their impact or probability of occurrence, is a strategic endeavor of both the electoral board and its security associates.
Obviously, building a democratic culture is not an overnight process. However, if everyone in a given nation especially those who are prime drivers of the political motor are expected to be committed enough to come up with a real difference and work for the public they represent and the country for which they are working, bringing about change through election is highly likely.
People of the world have always heard of the most common definition of democracy jotted by Abraham Lincoln: ‘the government of the people, by the people and for the people.’ In simple terms, any government is born to the people; its actions and deeds have to be experienced by the people, and it is structured for purposefully serving the interest of the people.
From this, Ethiopians have also had ample opportunity to draw important lessons. So long as all contestant parties including the ruling one are working for one country and serving the same population, they should well underline the importance of peace and security.
“The Board has been carrying out tasks as outlined in the timetable, and regularly providing updates to the public. Accordingly, several tasks will be well dealt with, among others, voter registration, recruitment of poll workers, training and deployment, voter education and dissemination of voter registration materials, etc.,” Birtukan added.
Speculating the gravity of the potential problems on the elections, during the meeting, participants urged the board to consult with relevant government bodies to devise an alternative operational plan and organize all what is required for having meaningful elections.
Undeniably, impartiality, transparency and accountability are important elements of electoral security. Furthermore, nurturing all processes of a voting and scrupulously looking into activities inside is an incomparable approach to come up with a reliable and peaceful election as it is a viable passport for the ones competing in the field to be allowed to assume power.
The Ethiopian Herald January 5/2021
