BY DIRRIBA TESHOME
Have you ever heard a nation in which a political party leader got the right to candidacy being in prison? In the history of political elections anywhere in the world, I have never heard a prisoner who registered as a candidate. But the sixth election made it happen in Ethiopia for the first time.
The political party named Balderas for True Democracy had its president, Eskinder Nega, in a prison for being suspected in aggravating the public grievances on the other side following the murder of the Oromo prominent Artist and Activist Hachalu Hundessaa. The party took the case to court and argued for the prisoner’s right either to vote or to be registered as a candidate.
The court judged the case and made the decision to the appealing party. And the National Election Board of Ethiopia accepted the court verdict letting the candidate to be registered for the sixth General Election of Ethiopia that was commenced on June 21, 2021 though he was in prison.
This leads us to the other historical secret in the decision: that is the commitment of the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the rule of law in order to enhance the democratic system foundation. In this, it should be noted that the government decided to accept the verdict not because it was against the law but to guarantee that the government must augment the freedom of courts and their acceptances.
I believe judges must be autonomous as far as they enact the binding laws of the nation and the globe. For this reason, I am absolutely for the decision that I appreciate the commitments of the government in enhancing the freedom of law lords winning its political interests which may be or may not be against the absolute democratic system principles.
The third historical mark I observed in this general election is that Ethiopians organized themselves for the first time to vote freely for the party they trusted to transform the nation from: poverty to prosperity, oppressive system to democratic, insecurity to security, discordant system to peaceful coexistence, divisive to unifying, backwardness to modernity and what else not.
Not only trusting the National Election Board of Ethiopia during casting their votes, the electorates have also accepted the results genuinely. This is a marvelous thing to be seen in such a very worrying time for Ethiopia as there were many internal and external threats for the peacefulness of the election process.
Whatever political views they followed behind the various political parties, the electorates casted their votes peacefully and courageously. Therefore, it is unique in Ethiopia.
The fifth especial news to be recorded as a history from the sixth general election is that all the political parties have respected the election process and accepted their loss freely unlike the other five elections arranged in the nation. They used to create chaos here and there threatening unity and sovereignty of the nation that they did not performed in this election. And the National Election Board of Ethiopia has won trust from competing political parties for the first time in the history of the nation.
The last point I observed as a unique documentable effort in this general election is that the nation managed the election between three very threatening pressures. These are COVID-19, internal conflict and external pressures in support of a political party.
Not only for a developing nation like Ethiopia, but holding election in such a pandemic disease COVID-19 has also been very tough for the developed nations. However, Ethiopia committed itself to enhance the democratic system Ethiopians have been thirsty of.
Likewise, holding election in a nation where there is an internal conflict that brought thousands of internally displaced people to existences is something unthinkable for poor nations like Ethiopia. And it is obvious that ruling political parties search for reasons not hold election when they are uncertain on winning, but the current ruling party, Prosperity Party, has not tried to use the opportunity to extend its right in office undemocratically and illegally. It made history by sticking itself to the constitutional principles of the nation.
Similarly, the current Ethiopian government facilitated the election in a time when the extreme external pressure was enforced on the nation in support of a terrorist group Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) which used to be the dominant political party in office for thirty years. Though the party was over thrown by the strongest grievances from the public for its atrocities, its supporters preferred that for Ethiopians.
Finally, I believe that the Sixth General Election of Ethiopia is a historical foundation for the enhancement of democratic system, prosperity, peace and unity in the nation.
Editor’s Note: The views entertained in this article do not necessarily reflect the stance of The Ethiopian Herald
The Ethiopian Herald July 7/2021
