Ethiopian Ruling Party Rejects Opposition Parties' AllegationsEthiopia's ruling party has expressed its rejection to the allegations by six opposition parties that it had interfered in the February 25 elections for local administration in four regional states and in Addis Ababa, the Monitor newspaper reported Monday.The ruling Ethiopia Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) rejected the accusation leveled against it, saying they were fabricated by those who failed to win the support of the voters and have resorted to false charges, according to the newspaper. Earlier, an EPRDF statement issued here declared that its accusers were doing so "out of embarrassment for loosing while accepting defeat in popular elections is a worthy manifestation of the democratic process." It pointed out that the present second-ever multi-party local administration elections in Ethiopia were indicative of the progress the county continues to make in the democratization process. "To this end, the EPRDF had made unstilted efforts during national and local elections to sensitize the public at large to exercise their democratic rights to register as voters, candidates, nominate others and vote," added the statement. Meanwhile, a report reaching here Monday said that the main opposition parties on Sunday boycotted the local and regional elections, protesting against alleged irregularities by the ruling party. So far, the ruling party has not made any response to the main opposition parties' move. The ruling party came into power in 1991 after overthrowing Mengistu Haile Mariam's administration. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |