BALLOT BATTLEGROUND

Jun 26 , 2021.

A voter stops by to check out results at a polling station in Arada District, Addis Abeba, where the counting of results for the national elections last week has been posted on a notice board. The verdict by voters for city council seats is marked in light blue and purple for Parliament. The result for the latter is visible – the candidate for the incumbent Prosperity Party (PP) has come out on top in this constituency.

The National Election Board is yet to formally announce results for the national elections, which it is legally obligated to do before July 1. Still, there were some surprising takeaways from polling day, including the steep losses candidates from major opposition parties such as the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (Ezema), the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA) and Balderas for True Democracy seem to have suffered in the constituencies thought to be their social bases.

Most notable was voters' turnout, in sharp contrast to what seemed to be apathy during the early registration period. Elections monitors deployed by the African Union (AU), under Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo, declared the process and outcome of the elections as "orderly, peaceful and credible."

The day's protagonist was the Electoral Board, whose chief, Birtukan Midekssa, briefed the media twice on polling day. Some of the Board's logistical and technical muddle ups have been somewhat embarrassing, especially on mixing up the ballot papers polling stations were set to receive. To the Board’s relief, these have been deemed “understandable” by the African Union observer mission.

The west was not impressed. The EU, UK and Canada have issued a joint statement calling the sixth national elections "not inclusive." The United States called it "not free or fair to all Ethiopians."

The volatile parts of the country were excluded from taking part in the elections – a majority of them expected to vote later on September 6 – and even then, there were incidents, including the killing of three individuals at a polling station in Ambo town, Oromia Regional State.

While noting that the Electoral Board has gained more autonomy, Ethiopia's development partners have continued to call out that the political conditions under which Ethiopians went to vote were dire and that an election alone would not address it. As the Electoral Board was counting the votes, reports came of an airstrike at a marketplace near Meqelle, capital of Tigray Regional State, that took the lives of over 60 people – a sullen reminder that the battle for the soul of the country is not only fought through the ballot box but the bullet as well.

PUBLISHED ON Jun 26,2021 [ VOL 22 , NO 1104]

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