BY SOLOMON DIBABA
With exception to some areas of the country where election has been temporarily suspended due to security and logistics shortfalls, the 6th National Election has been concluded peacefully. The peoples of Ethiopia exhibited the highest level of patience and endurance by casting their ballots and the polling stations with tenacity and confidence which is typical of Ethiopians.
This is an election which has effectively thrashed fake news expectations and hoaxes that have been fabricated on Ethiopia over the last three years. It is indeed the first democratic election ever to be conducted in Ethiopia. That is why the adversaries of this country are upset because it defied their expectation of a civil war.
The western media is enraged and has continued with its false fabrications regarding the current election. They are mixing up everything under the sun regarding the election in this country and are talking and writing about a civil war that is nonexistent in this country. Singling out the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and his team they link the election with the situation in Tigray.
False propaganda from western media outlets is fighting the soft war for TPLF to install the tyrannical regime back to power. They are using fake news to continuously misinform the international community with open propaganda barrage to facilitate for regime change with total disregard to the will of the peoples of Ethiopia and their sovereign and legal rights.
This is obvious because TPLF which was planted in Ethiopia to ignite turmoil in the country particularly over the last four years is now ousted from power and are in the run. The first conspiracy on election in Ethiopia has been crushed by the peoples of this country and the remaining conspiracy on GERD will also be foiled in several weeks before all eyes.
Election is one of the most important indicators of the sovereignty of the peoples of Ethiopia. As I have indicated in my pervious contributions, democracy is partially manifested through democratic elections but this is only the tip of the iceberg. In this country, in all the pervious governments the word democracy was on the air at least for more than 50 years but it was only a buzz word always inserted in flowery words of the leaders.
The previous administration decidedly won all the elections in the name of two contradictory catchwords, revolutionary democracy. However, there was neither revolution nor democracy worthy of the name. Tyranny, land and money grabbing, violations of human rights in dungeons and in open society, gross miscarriage of justice, ethnic based corruption, official contraband trade were all conducted in the name of democracy which surfaced up by staging preplanned sham elections.
On the other hand, I am not entitled to evaluate the nature and process of the current election but I think this election appears to be better managed and coordinated. As I said earlier, the electors expect more profound achievements from the legislature and the executive body of government over the next five years. Let us also remember that the sovereignty of the peoples of Ethiopia rests on the power of revocability they possess on those whom they have elected.
The peoples of Ethiopia expect to start the next fiscal year with national optimism for better life, freedom and democracy and the upcoming government and legislature need to keep up to these expectations. The level of accountability from civil servants from the federal level up to the grassroots level need to be scaled up and regularly monitored. Ethiopians had suffered from lack of good governance which is in most cases trampled by officials at the lower level of governance.
Elections are somewhat tricky because what is in most cases promised is mostly confined to the election process and period but not for the aftermath. Promises made would not necessarily tally with promises kept.
Over the next several years, the governments to be commissioned needs to ensure that the peoples of Ethiopia are food self-sufficient primarily because galloping food prices are already contributing to the increase in double digit inflation. The hazy situation on the monolithic form of export needs to be addressed accordingly. Besides, community members should be given the chance to have their saying in the management of the development programs that are conducted in their areas and help to decide priorities.
Furthermore, the entire process and the results of the current election need to be well documented not only for the purposes of compilation of data but also for facilitating a solid learning process for future elections.
It would also be very good if a booklet is prepared in various languages to be used as a reference for researchers who would be interested in comparative analysis.
Accepting the results of the 6th National Election as soon as it is issued by the NEBE is of critical importance for the transition to democracy in Ethiopia. I have noticed that some Facebook users are already posting results from local polling stations and are declaring who has won. This is not only impolite but also seriously illegal. This could easily result in crisis and unnecessary chaos in the country and is no less than fake news.
The reports that are to be issued by election observers are also very important for assessing the entire deliberation of the election. The recommendation that they could possibly forward is useful to make improvements in elections that could be conducted in the future.
The election is also interesting from the perspective of its demographic people of all ages from 18 to more than 90 participated in the elections across the country. Mothers with their babies on their backs were casting ballots while disabled persons appeared at the polling station even before the designated time.
I do not have the statistics but I have also observed that citizens with various religious backgrounds and denomination were also enthusiastically voting.
The government that is to be formed in the near future has a lot of huge tasks before it. The issue of amending the current constitution, internal boundary demarcations between regional states, issues related to ethnic identities is only few of the challenges that need to be addressed.
As Ethiopia is still at the stage of nascent democracy, no citizen should expect a perfect election that even the so called advanced countries have not conducted. There is a greater hope that the legislative body to be formed will have a better mix of parties and gender representation. This, I think is a good beginning for Ethiopia but certainly more is to be desired in establishing a fully democratic political system in the country.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD JUNE 24/2021
