BY ADDISALEM MULAT
Last June, Ethiopia left the international community open-mouthed by proving doomsday tellers wrong, holding a democratic poll in a peaceful environment. The 6th general election was dubbed as a historic poll in the country in its credibility and inclusiveness. And, the country is preparing for a new government formation in the coming month. Ethiopia has passed through many ups and downs to reach this milestone election.
A new government will be formed based on the results of the 6th General Election announced by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. It is to be recalled that Prosperity Party won most of the seats in the House of People’s Representatives.
A full report about more than 400 seats of the 547 seats in the House is declared. HPR will begin its work with these and the others could join the members later, said recently Tagesse Chafo, Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives.
According to him, the outgoing House has been undertaking various activities to make the new HPR more effective and efficient in its term.
Despite the breakthrough progress to democratic transition, there has been a coordinated campaign to blacken the democratic process and thwart the democratic transition though these efforts have been to no avail.
While admitting the poll was largely democratic and free, some countries refuse to recognize the will of millions of Ethiopians, and interfere in the internal affairs of the country.
The country has set a positive example to the rest of Africa by conducting a peaceful and fair election in the midst of a broad assortment of disinformation and cooked up stories that had been spreading across the globe by some irresponsible international media outlets. The incident marked a stark departure from the old traditions.
Having failed to disrupt the election process, Westerners have been pulling out all the stops to impede government formation. The U.S. has been making every effort to foil the efforts of the government by imposing a wide spectrum of sanctions. Ahead
of the formation of a new government, Washington is intensifying its efforts to impose more sanctions against Ethiopia on the pretext of the northern Ethiopian crisis.
The U.S. groundless pressure and prejudiced treatment of the present Ethiopian government will not change Ethiopia’s standpoint with the object of warranting the country’s interest.
The current pressure on Ethiopia by the U.S. and some western countries arises from the concern of the formation of a strong government as the country is preparing to form a newly elected government composed of potential leaders to address public demands and combat foreign pressure.
In his response to Biden’s executive order last week, Prime Minister Abiy said that in a demonstration of my people’s aspiration to democratize and unprecedented in Ethiopia’s modern history, close to 40 million of my country folk went out to vote on June 21, 2021 in this country’s first attempt at a free and fair election. In spite of many challenges and shortcomings the 6th National Election may have been faced with, the resolute determination of the Ethiopian people for the democratic process was displayed in their commitment to a peaceful electoral period.
Against the backdrop of previous electoral periods in which the choice of the people was snatched through rigged processes by the former regime, the 2021 elections came on the heels of the democratic reforms processes we embarked upon three years ago. The significance of our 2021 elections is in its peaceful conclusion, demonstrating Ethiopia’s new trajectory amidst the global warnings that the elections would be violent.
“With the Ethiopian people having spoken and affirmed their faith in Prosperity Party to lead them through the next five years in a landslide victory, my Party and administration with this responsibility at hand, are ever more determined to unleash the potential for equitable development these lands are blessed with,” he said adding: “We are even more resolute in granting our people the dignity, security and development they deserve within the means we have and without succumbing to various competing interests and pressures. And we will do this by confronting the threats to democracy and stability posed by any belligerent criminal enterprise.”
Speaking to The Ethiopian Press Agency lately, Political analyst Andargachew Tsege, said that some western leaders do not want to see a strong and legitimate government
across the Horn; instead, they are working to form a puppet state just like the TPLF regime and that is why they are striving to bring the terrorist group back to power.
Andargachew added that the countries that are influencing the federal government to negotiate with the terrorist group would never negotiate with any entity that attacks their army though they have been putting pressure on Ethiopia. “We need to assure them that we have no culture of compromise with anybody that violates our sovereignty.”
In a previous interview, Political science and international relations graduate from Dire Dawa University, Muluken Seyoum noted that the country is facing many challenges both from internal and external actors trying to destabilize the nation. Some anti-peace elements both from internal and external forces are working together hand-in-glove with the intention of undermining the peace and stability of the nation.
He further stressed that maintaining sustainable peace and stability of the nation is among the principal homework awaiting the upcoming government. Working hard in strengthening people-to-people relations is another way in bringing national solidarity and the people together.
The Ethiopian Herald September 23/2021
