05/20/2010

Members of the African Union Election Observation Mission held talks on May 19, 2010 with senior EPRDF officials about the upcoming election at the Hilton Hotel. The discussion was attended by EPRDF Executive Committee Members Ato Bereket Simon and Ato Muktar Kedir, and EPRDF Public and Foreign Relations Department Head, Ato Sektoure Getachew, as well as all members of the AU observation mission. Recalling the role of the AU in observing the third national and regional election in Ethiopia along with the Carter Center and European Union, EPRDF Executive Committee Member Ato Bereket Simon, said the African Union is once again warmly welcomed to observe the fourth national and regional election. He told the mission that in order to widen the political space in the country and enable parties to voice their views, the internal organization and procedure of the Ethiopian parliament was changed, the previous electoral law revised, and a new media law as well as electoral code for political parties prepared. The participation of the public, political parties and candidates has also been growing, according to Ato Bereket. Members of the mission on their part posed questions regarding the participation of women and grievances of political parties. Responding to the questions, Ato Bereket noted that huge attention is given to the participation of women and that complaints of parties have been investigated by committees established by the joint national council of political parties formed in line with the proclamation for the establishment of the joint national council of political parties. Accordingly, the various fact-finding committees which investigated the allegations made by the opposition have found them to be unfounded, he said, further providing examples of those.