Ethiopias ruling party on Tuesday declared victory in the countrys national elections, saying it had already taken more than 300 of the 547 seats in parliament, IRIN reports.
Bereket Simon, information minister and spokesman for the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), made the declaration after the initial tally of early polling results.
– We have the majority. We can not give exact figures, but we have won more than 300 seats. This is a very positive result for us, he said.
More than 90 percent of the 25,6 million voters turned out in what was seen as a critical test of the Ethiopian governments commitment to democracy, according to officials.
The National Election Board (NEB) was expected to announce provisional results on Saturday, although results were being posted outside polling stations when counting was finished. Final results will be announced on 8 June.
Ana Gomes, the EUs chief observer, described the election as “the most genuinely competitive elections the country has experienced,” despite some problems and human-rights violations.
– What I watched on polling day was a genuine demonstration of democracy, she said, adding: – Nevertheless, the overall political environment in which these elections took place contained a number of elements which limited the full exercise of suffrage and the free expression of the will of the people.
She cited the killing of at least four political activists by police, the breaking up of opposition rallies and the detention of opposition activists during the campaign. More than 300 opposition activists had been beaten, she added.
She called on political parties to refrain from declaring victory until the results were made official.
Hailu Shawel, leader of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), the largest opposition group, said, that early indications showed they had won around 61 seats in the new parliament and believed that figure could rise. Hailu added that 185 seats were needed for the country to have a true, effective opposition.
In the last vote in 2000, the ruling coalition and affiliated parties took 519 of 547 seats in the parliament.
More than 300 foreign observers witnessed the election. They said the long queues seen on Sunday were a sign of peoples faith in Ethiopia’s polls.
The massive turnout meant that some voters had to wait more than nine hours to cast their ballots, and polling in Addis Ababa lasted until Monday morning. Here the opposition did best among the voters.
Kilde: FN-bureauet IRINnews
