Ruling Front gets unexpected election outcomes

ESAT News
April 15, 2013

In the local and City Administration Elections held in Ethiopia in the presence of a few opposition parties yesterday, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front ( EPRDF) has garnered unexpected outcomes.

“Although EPRDF was eyeing a 99 to 100 percent election win, the messages that voters put on the voting Cards was what it did not expect.” An observer said.

In some areas, Kebele and Woreda officials were seen appeasing election observers and vote counters to be silent of what they saw.

According to witnesses, in Woldeya, Northern Wello Zone, over half of the papers and cards found ballot boxes were blank while the rest contained messages that urged the ruling party to leave, called freedom of religion and arrested religious leaders to be freed.

In another election station in Northern Shewa, the majority of the voters did cast blank papers into the ballot boxes.

Election stations in Addis Abeba like Waliya School Election Station in Kirkos Sub city were “hit with voters’ dearth”.

In some regions where vote counting has already started, the ruling Front has won the election with 99 to 100 percent. Observers state that this election result would not only beat EPRDF’s own 99.6 percent election results of 2010 but would remain the only in the election history of Ethiopia.