Ethiopian opposition don’t want election they just want power

Tigrai Online, May 24, 2015

Professor Merera Gudina didn’t vote in the election because he said he was busy to get a voting card.

The Ethiopian opposition parties didn’t want a fair and free election in Ethiopia, they just want power by any means possible.

Millions of Ethiopians are voting for the fifth time in the national general election held on Sunday May 24, 2015. The turnout to vote was amazing throughout the country.

The ruling party, EPRDF and all the opposition parties including Medrek, Edepa, Semayawi party campaigned hard to get their point across to the public. All the contending parties fielded hundreds of candidates to compete with each other and the EPRDF.

Thousands of polling stations were setup in every village, town and cities of Ethiopia. Millions of Ethiopians voted for the party of their choice in a peaceful manner. For the most part all voting went very smoothly and there was no major problems reported. The opposition parties claimed their observers were turned away from the voting stations for variety of reasons. Some of them didn’t show up and some are saying they were intimidated by the police or by supporters of the ruling party.

Although the masses are doing everything they can to cast their votes, the leaders of the opposition are not. Take for example the leaders of one of the biggest opposition party Medrek, Arena Tigray Gebru Asrat and Professor Merera Gudina didn’t vote in the election. Isn’t it odd for the leaders of the parties not to led by example? We think this is not an accident it is by design. Usually presidents, prime ministers and other leaders vote in front of the media to show their confidence in the electoral process.  Both Dr. Merera Gudina and Mr. Gebru Asrat were asked why they didn’t vote, both of them gave very lame excuses.

Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty leader Mr. Gebru Asrat didn’t vote in the election because he said he was told there was no more voting cards.

Medrek leaders while the are running for public office, they decided not to vote in the same election they are trying to get elected. Medrek is made up of smaller regional parties. Some of the smaller parties that are under the umbrella of Medrek are Arena Tigray for Democracy and Sovereignty from Tigrai led by the former President of Tigrai State Gebru Asrat and Oromo People's Congress (OPC) led by Professor Merera Gudina.

Does not casting a personal vote in the election give the leaders of Medrek to deny the democratic process of the Ethiopian election? We know some of the opposition are complaining about the election already, but the Ethiopian government has done all it can to make sure every registered person is able to vote for his party. As any election there would be some anomalies and irregularities, but for the most part we are sure the Ethiopian election will be fair and free and most of all the Ethiopian people will learn a great lesson from it.

Ethiopain Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn casting his vote in the 2015 Ethiopian general election like any other citizen of the country.