Friday 29 May 2015

Why Do Dictators Bother To Hold Fake Elections?


election-2015The flawlessly organised election robbery that took place in Ethiopia on May 24 is now concluded with the unpopular ruling EPRDF party wining by a landslide. Over 37 million registered voters out of the 96 million people reportedly cast their ballots in the said parliamentary and regional election. Based on preliminary results that was released by the country’s electoral board, the highly unpopular ruling EPRDF and its affiliate parties so far won all of the 442 declared seats, leaving the opposition empty-handed.
In what seems to be a rather stage-managed election process, the fate of the remaining 105 seats will be determined according to plan. After all, the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will roll in his grave if the margin of victory for the incumbent party lower than that of the 2010, which was 99.6 percent. Ordinary Ethiopians rather embarrassed than surprised by the election results. They know the ruling EPRDF, which is mainly controlled by one minority ethnic group that make up only 6% of the population, is extremely unpopular, facing multiple armed rebellion. There is no way, unless otherwise rigged, the incumbent wins in a landslide all the time.
International election observers, like the European Union and the United States, which monitored the rigged 2005 and 2010 elections have declined to observe this time. The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM) led by former Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, is therefore, the only international monitor that observed the election. AUEOM members were only 59 in number comprised of 23 African countries. Practically and logistically, it was highly impossible for this tiny group of observers to monitor the more than 45,000 polling stations through out the country. At the end of the day, AUEOM managed to only visit 356 polling stations. The rest of the polling stations were left to observers from the ruling EPRDF party. It was like leaving the fox to guard the hen house.
The African Union Election Observation Mission finally gave its verdict on the overall voting process even though it only monitored less than 1% of the total polling stations in the country. It said the election was “calm, peaceful and credible”. However, the mission also said in the 21 percent of the 356 polling stations it visited, station officers violated rules by refusing to demonstrate empty ballot boxes before the official start of the elections. It also noted that a few voting centers had opened ahead of time and many ruling party allies openly urging voters to vote for them inside the polling stations. Moreover, the dark canvas ballot boxes in many stations were not sufficiently transparent to determine whether the boxes are stuffed or not. For that, the mission omitted the two critical adjectives, “free and fair,” out of its final assessment of the 2015 Ethiopian national election. In other words, it acknowledges that the election was not “Free” and “Fair” even by African standard.
The opposition rather dismissed the AU Observer mission’s assertion of “credible” claiming the body had failed to report on multiple violations in several constituencies. On the eve of the vote, security personnel had launched a “witch hunt” by arresting opposition observers stationed in most of the remote polling stations. Ballot boxes as well had been stolen from most of the opposition constituencies outside of the capital. Dr. Merara Gudina, deputy chairperson of the opposition Medrek coalition alleges the whole process was a farce. “In my constituency, we do not even know what happened to the over 80 percent of the ballot boxes right after the polls closed, ” he said. “It was an organised robbery.”
To the surprise of many, EPRDF and its affiliates even secured a landslide victory in Addis Ababa, an opposition stronghold, by winning all the 23 constituencies. Since the 2005 deadly election, the ruling party creates an unfair playing field for the opposition. The opposition have been hindered from campaigning through arrests, harassment, intimidation and unequal access to funding and media. That has left the country without any viable counter voice to the ruling party and resulted in highly controlled political and electoral participation.
A North Korea style 100% win is, therefore, what the ruling EPRDF expects this time. By doing so, it is sending the message that in Ethiopia, democracy is not about people’s rule but about ruling people. That message is meant to embarrass the highly criticized Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, who recently praised Ethiopia as a ‘democracy’.
The best explanation that we have observed is that, beginning at least in the 20th Century and arguably before then, the idea of consent of the governed has become inextricably tied to national legitimacy to such an extent that even dictators find themselves having to establish at least the illusion that their rule is supported by the people. Because of this, even dictators feel the need to hold “elections” in an effort to claim to the rest of the world that they have the same legitimacy as, say, the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Consent of the governed, then, has replaced the Divine Right Of Kings as the determining factor when it comes to legitimacy. While the rest of the world rightly recognizes that these elections are fraudulent, the fact that dictators feel the need to hold elections implies that they recognize the fact that, to the world as a whole, only rulers who are elected by the people are truly legitimate.
For most Ethiopians, the chance for bringing change and democracy to the country through the ballot box is now a distant dream. While the final result is slated to be announced on June 22nd, Ethiopians have no option except to deal with it.

Seife Nebelbal Radio and Simbirtuu weekly program

Seife Nebelbal Radio and Simbirtuu weekly program

Monday 25 May 2015

Gabaasa Filannoo Kijibaa Caamsaa 24/2015 Gaggeeffame Godinaa fi Yuuniversitii Garagaraa Irraa


Seife Nebelbal Radio interviews Qeerroo and Bekele Gerba on the ElectionFilannoo Mootummaa Wayyaanee Har’a Caamsaa 24/2015 Ilaalchisuudhaan Akkaataa Adeemsa Filinnichaa, Farra Kijiba Filannoo Ta’uun Sochii Taasifame fi Mootummichis Filannicha Sobaan Milkeessuuf Shira Xaxe.
(Qeeroo) — Filannoo kana milkeessuudhaaf mootummaan wayyaanee daba garagaraa qopheessaa bahe, naannoo itti milkaahee tokkollee hin qabu, filannoon silas kanuma isa filuuf qophaayeedha biyyicha keessatti kanumaanuu har’a oromiyaa keessatti filanoon gaggeeffame gara FDGtti jijjiiramee oole, mootummaan wayyaanee kana dursee waan beekuuf humni waraanaa naannoo biraa irraa kaafamee dhufee dachee oromiyaa uummata oromoo gidduu diriirfatee oole, dabaa fi shira xaxetti dabalataan humni waraanaa bobbaafamuu fi filannichuma sagalee isaa olkaasuuf waa hedduutti fayadame tokko namoota jaamaa, dadhaboo ta’an kaardii filannoo irraa fuudhee ofiin filuu, lammata baadiyaalee keessatti uummata doorsisuudhaan kaardii humnaan irraa fuudhanii of filuu fakkeenyi kanaa Harargee keessa, kan kaardii dhorkate ciree gate, dhugaadha erga isa hin fayyannee ciree gatuu qaba,kaan ammoo taajjabdoota kan ta’an walakkaa guyya buufata filannoo keessaa ariyuudhaan akka fedhanitti waan fedhan guuttachuu fakkeenyatti kan fudhatamu Qellem aanaa Anfilloo ganda Dollaa jedhamu keessatti kan raawwateedha.
Sadaffaan qonnaan bulaa baadiyaa keessaa kaleessa irraa kaasuudhaan caasaan mootummaaf dhaabbatee hojjetu sun maal filatta kanniisa yoo filte tajaajila addaa mootumma irraa argatta, misoomni ni ariifata, maatiikeetti nagaa argatta, hojiin siif kennama,…. Waa hedduu ittiin jechuun gowomsuu, naannoo sodaan jirutti doorsisuma tikaan, waraanaan kaan qabanii hidhuun sa’a muraasaaf tursiisuu irratti bobbahanii hojjetaa bahan kun akeekni filannoo jedhamu sun gara FDGtti jijjiirame diddaa ka’een godina shawaa lixaa Gindabarat keessatti dhukaasni hanga uummata irrattid huka’uu deemsisu, FDG isin hin fillu jechuudhaan fuula isaanii duratti kaardii ciranii gatuu fi mootummicha arrabsuun xiqqeessuu,dhaadannoo garagara dhageessisuu Lixa shawaa aanalee garagaraa, Qellem Anfilloo aanaalee garagaraa, Finfinnee fi Godina addaa, shawaa bahaa, wallagga lixaa fi dhaabbilee barnootaa keessatti itti filannoon mootummaan wayyaanee gara duddaatti jijjiirame miseensotni paartilee mormitootaas kan nu baasu diddaa gaggeessuudha jechuudhan keessattuu naannoo Iluu A/Booraa fi Jimmaa aanaalee adda addaa keessatti taajjabdootni dhiisanii bahuudhaan fincila kaasuun Filannoodhuma kijibaa kanayyuu itti milkaahuuf shirri mootummaas isa hin baasne uummanni ammas kan furmaata tahu FDG tahuu hubatee godinaalee adda addaa keessatti fincilli finiinaa jira. kun akkaataa adeemsa filannoo wayyaaneen itti gaggeeffatee fi shirri inni xaxes isa milkeessuu dadhabee uummata gara fincilaatti kaasuu walii galatti gabaasota bakkeewwan olii xuqaman irraa nu gahe ibsuudha. Guutummaa Gabaasa Kanaaf:-  Filannoo Har’aa

Seife Nebelbal Radio interviews Qeerroo and Bekele Gerba on the Election


 Seife Nebelbal Radio interviews Qeerroo and Bekele Gerba on the Ethiopian sham election

Wallagga Lixaatti Uummanni Oromiyaa Miidiyaa Neetworkii (OMN), SBO fi Raadiyoon Oromoo Akka Hin Dhaggeeffanne Dhorkame

omn(Qeerroo) — Mootummaan Wayyaanee yeroo ammaa waan hoji isaa saaxilu, rakkoo uummanni Oromoo keessa jiru miidiyaa addunyaatti dhageesisu gufuu tahuuf shira xaxuuf halkanii guyyaa kan duulu,mootummaan Wayyaanee of tuulaa fi shororkaa’aan uummanni Oromoo Wallagga keessa jiraatu mana mana irraa deemuudhaan miidiyaa OMN,SBO fi Raadiyoon Oromoo  akka hin dhaggeeffanne har’a Caamsaa 23,2015 dhorkuu Qeerroon Wallagga,Aanaa Gullisoo irraa gabaase.
Gabaasni Qeerroo akka addeessutti caasaaleen mootummaa Wayyaaneef amanamoo ta’anii ergama Wayyanee baatanii gandaa fi uummata keessa jooraan wayyaanee barri itti dhufe yeroon itti geesse aangoo isaa irraa yoo bu’e bor waan nyaatan dhabanii bor uummatuma Oromootti kan hafan har’a uummata Oromoo irra deemanii diinummaa kan hojjetanii fi waan mootumman Wayyaanee hojii irra oolchaa jechuudhaan dirqamsiisu
hunda uummata Oromoo goolaa keessa bahee amma ammoo sodaaf kan ta’e miidiyaa kanneen akka OMN,SBO fi RSO xiyyeeffannoo guddaa itti kennuudhaan ummmanni  akka hin dhaggeeffanne jechuun caasaan mootummaaf amanamoo ta’an mana uummataa irraa deemuudhaan akeekkachiisa kennaa kan oolan tahuu gabaasni addeessa.
Keessattuu uummata jiraattota  Wallaggaa magaalotni Gimbii,Najjoo, Gullisoo, Noolee keessatti miidiyaa kana namni kamuu akka hin hordofneef mootummaan dhaamsaa dhaamuu fi uummannis akeekkachiisa mootummaan wayyaanee kenne aarii fi mufii
guddaan itti dhagayame, namotni akeekkachisa mootummaan Wayyaanee dirqamaan itti kenne kana galmaan gahuuf duulan uummata naannoo aana Nooleen ariyaman, uummannis nuti isin hin beeknu miidiyaa nuuf tahu hordofuun mirga keenya mootummaa waan galchu hin qabu jechuun ergamoota diinaaf hojjetan qaaneessuun of ariiyuu gabaasni Qeerroo nugahe addeessa.

Wednesday 20 May 2015

Filannoon Fakkeessaa fi Kijibaa Abbootii Irree malee Ummatoota hin Fayyadu

asxaa_oromoBittaan gita bittoota Tigraay ummatootaa Itophiyaa irratti humna qawween of irroomse Itophiyaa tarree biyyoota hiyyeeyyii keessaa baasuu hin dandeenye. Kadhaa gargaarsa alagaa irraa argamuun jireessuu keessaa baasuu dadhabee har’as taanaan Impaayerittiin hiriira biyyoota gargaarsaan jiraatan keessatti akka hiriirtetti jirti. Saaminsi daangaa dhabe murna aangoo irra jiruun adeemsifamu abbootii aangoo duroomsee lammiilee sadarkaa of jiraachisuu dadhabuu fi abdii dhabuu irraa, kanneen osoo jireenya barbaadanii galaana keessatti dhuman, biyyoota gara garaa keessatti haala suukanneessaa fi gaddisiisaan ajjeefaman lakkoobsi guddaa dha. Bilisa tahanii gurmaa’uun, yaada qaban ibsatuun guutummaatti yakkatti fudhatamee hidhaa, ajjeechaa fi roorroo gosa gara garaa lammiilee irraan gahuun Itophiyaan biyyoota Afriikaa irra dabree sadarkaa addunyaatti iyyuu tarree duraa keessatti argamuun haala qabatamaa biyyattii keessaa ibsa.
Saaminsi, cunqursaan, buqqa’insi fi dhiittaan mirga dhala namaa waggoota 24 dabraniif adeemsifamee fi sadarkaan har’a irra gahe egeree biyyattii kan dukkaneesse, ummatoota kan abdii dhabsiise dha. Wayyaaneen qawween dhufe. Qawweenis jiraate. Fuula duras Itophiyaa abbaa irrummaa paartii tokkoo jala tursuun murtii isaa bosonaa qabatee dhufe tahuun kan shakkamu miti. Ammas kana ifaan labsatee jira.
Mootummaan Wayyaanee, ummatootni maal barbaadan? maal gaafataa jiran? Maalis hawwan? jedhee yaada ummatootaa hubatee gaaffii isaaniif deebii kennuuf kan fedhii hin qabne tahuu irraa gaaffiin ummatootaa deebii hin argatiin jiran. Kan Wayyaaneetti fardii, akkaataa itti aangoo humnaan argate tiksatuu danda’u irratti bobba’uu qofa. Waan taheef aangoo isaatti iggitii godhatuuf mala adda addaatti fayyadama. Tooftaalee aangoo irra ittiin of tursuuf itti gargaaramaa turee fi jiru keessaa filannoon kijibaa waggaa shan shanitti adeemsifamu isa tokko.
Filannoon Caamsaa 24, 2015 itti baallamamee jirus Wayyaanee aangomsuun alatti faydaa biraa argamsiisu hin qabu. Sababootni isaas haalli filannoon kun ittiin adeemsifamu kan ulaagaa filannoo dimokraatwaa hin guutne tahuu qofa osoo hin taane murni Wayyaanee sagalee ummataan aangoo kan gadi hin dhiisne tahuu murteeffatuu irraa ti. Filannoon 5ffaa kun filannoota kanaan duraa irraas addummaa hin qabu. Kan filannoo kana mataa itti tahuun geggeessaa jiru boordiin filannoo kan sirnichaan sirnichaaf utubame dha. Kana waliin dorsisii fi dinniinni, hidhaa fi dhaaninsi mootummaa Wayyaaneen ummatoota irratti raawwatamaa jiru nageenya isaa kan gaaffii jala galche, bilisummaa isaa haqee sodaa itti bulche dha.
ABOn akeekaa fi amala Wayyaanee bareechee waan beekuuf, akkasumas, itti bahi filannoo iftoomina hin qabnee, haqa irratti hin hundoofnee fi imokraatawaa hin taanee maal akka tahu waan hubatuuf filannoo Caamsaa 24, 2015 hawwii fi fedhiin ummatootaa ittiin guutamaa irraa hin eegu. Kana irraa ka’uudhaanis yeroo gara garaatti ummatootni Itophiyaa addatti ammo ummatni Oromoo filannoo fakkeessii Wayyaanee akka lagatu waamichaa kan dabarsaa ture.
Har’a Itophiyaa keessatti jibbinsa Wayyaanee fi sirna cunqursaa Wayyaaneen durfamu irraa ummatootni qabsoo hadhaawaa geggeessaa fi gaaffiilee adda addaa kaasaa jiran. Kanneen sirnicha irratti mormii finiinsaa jiran keessaa ummatni Oromoo durummaan hiriiree argama. Ummatni Oromoo kan ilmaan isaa wareegaa jiru, qabeenya isaa itti dhabaa fi baqaaf saaxilamee mankaraaruu irratti argamu, filannoo kijibaa keessatti hirmaatee barcuma lamaas tahe kudha lama argatuuf miti. Rakkoo siyaasaa, dinagdee fi hawaasummaa jaarraa tokkoo oliif irratti saare dhabamee walabummaan isaa dhugoomee bilisa tahee jiraachuufi. Akeeknii fi hawwiin ummata Oromoo kun ammoo filannoo sirna abbaa irrummaa jalatti geggeeffamuun tasa hin argamu.
Waan taheef ummatni Oromoo haqa kana hubatuun furaan dhibdee isaa qabsoon malee kan hin argamne tahuu beekee, filannoo kijibaan akka hin dagamne ABO irra deebi’ee gadi jabeessee hubachiisuu fedha. Filannoo kana keessatti hirmaatuun mootummaa irratti qabsaawaa jiru seeressuu qofa taha. Filannoo mootummaa farra ummata Oromoo irroomsu keessatti qooda fudhatuun haada sirnichi mormatti nu kaa’ee jiru ofitti jabeessuu qofa taha. Addatti ammo dargaggoon Oromoo qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo fuula dura tarkaanfachiisuu keessatti wareegamni baasaa turtanii fi jirtan akka firii godhatu dandeessisuuf Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa jabeessuun filmaata isa duraa akka tahetti itti fufsiisuun murteessaa dha. Morkaa fi xiqiin ykn jibbiinsa Wayyaanee qofa irraa ka’uun filannoo kijibaa jala gugatuun wareegama kanaan dura baafame irratti bishaan naquu taha. Waan taheef ummatni keenya sochii aangoo mootummaa Wayyaanee seeressuu kamuu lagatuun mirga isaa qabsoo isaan harka galfatuuf akka qabsoo isaa finiinsu ABO gadi jabeessee waamicha isaa haaromsa.
Injifatnoo Ummata Oromoof!
Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo

Friday 15 May 2015

Waamicha Yaadannoo Guyyaa Goototaa, Washington, DC, Caamsaa 16, 2015.


Guyyaa Goototaa-05.14.15

TVOMT: Beeksisa SBO fi Miidiyaa Madda Walaabuu (OVR)

No comments yet.

Burundi coup bid: Groups seek Bujumbura control

_82981039_027191973-1
Gen Niyombare delivers his radio address to the nation
(BBC News) — Rival groups of soldiers in Burundi are vying for control of the capital Bujumbura amid confusion over the success of an attempted coup.
Heavy fighting and shelling is reported at the state TV building.
A senior military source says soldiers loyal to President Pierre Nkurunziza are back in control of key parts of the city, including the airport. Coup leaders insist they remain in charge.
Mr Nkurunziza has ruled out delaying next month's elections
Mr Nkurunziza has ruled out delaying next month’s elections
The unrest began when Mr Nkurunziza announced he was seeking a third term.
Opponents say the bid contravenes the constitution.
Witnesses in Bujumbura say they heard heavy fighting overnight between troops loyal to the president and those who backed the coup, but it is unclear who is in control.
“We didn’t sleep at night because of fear…. a lot of explosions and gunshots can be heard everywhere… and people are scared,” one witness told the BBC.
One senior military source told BBC Afrique that loyalist troops had seized back full control of the presidential palace, the national radio and television station, the airport and the centre of Bujumbura.
BBC correspondents there say the streets seem to be mainly in the control of loyalist police, and the airport has reportedly re-opened which would appear to confirm reports it too is in loyalist hands.
But heavy fighting continues around the state radio and television broadcaster RNTB, with troops loyal to the coup spotted trying to gain entry into the building.
Control over the national broadcaster is key because it is the only outlet still broadcasting outside the capital, the BBC’s Maud Jullien reports.
The two private radio stations have been shut down. The most popular – Radio Publique Africaine – was burnt down overnight after broadcasting Gen Niyobare’s coup announcement.
Both the army’s chief of staff and President Nkurunziza have claimed that the coup attempt has been halted.
But this has been contradicted by the coup leaders, one of whom said they were in control of “virtually the entire city” of Bujumbura.
“The soldiers who are being deployed are on our side,” coup spokesman Venon Ndabaneze also told the AFP news agency.
Sporadic gunfire is still being heard in parts of Bujumbura and many business premises have remained closed this morning.
Roads have been barricaded and only a few vehicles are on the empty streets, mainly emergency service vehicles attending to those injured in the on-and-off shooting.
In one neighbourhood, the BBC saw angry crowds of young men asking police on patrol to leave. The men, most of them casual labourers, said they had been unable to make it to work because of restrictions on their movements.
Commodities are running out. Petrol has become scarce and where it is in stock there are long queues.
line
The coup was announced by Maj Gen Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief and ally of the president, on Wednesday.
“The masses vigorously and tenaciously reject President Nkurunziza’s third-term mandate. President Pierre Nkurunziza has been relieved of his duties,” he said in a radio broadcast.
Thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate the announcement, marching on the centre of Bujumbura alongside soldiers and two tanks.
Gen Niyombare made the announcement hours after the president flew to the Tanzanian capital Dar es Salaam for a summit with other East African leaders to discuss the election crisis.
He reportedly tried to fly back to Burundi upon learning of the coup, but had to return to Dar es Salaam after finding the airport at Bujumbura closed.
A senior Tanzanian presidential security official earlier told the AFP that President Nkurunziza was at a secret location in Dar es Salaam, but it is not clear if he is still there.
biafricaPresident Nkurunziza’s fellow leaders at the summit in Tanzania have condemned the coup.
The UN and US has urged all sides to show restraint.
The unrest began on 26 April after the 51-year-old president said he would run for re-election in June.
He argued that he was entitled to a third term because he was first appointed to the role by parliament in 2005, rather than be elected.
The constitution states a president can only be elected to two terms in office, but earlier this month the country’s constitutional court upheld Mr Nkurunziza’s interpretation.
More than 20 people have died and tens of thousands of Burundians have fled to neighbouring states since the unrest began.
Coup bid leader: Gen Godefroid Niyombare, 46
  • Former rebel CNDD-FDD commander and ally of President Nkurunziza
  • First ethnic Hutu army chief – a significant step in reconciliation efforts
  • A negotiator in peace talks with last rebel group FNL
  • Oversaw Burundi’s deployment to Somalia as part of African force
  • Served as ambassador to Kenya
  • Dismissed as intelligence chief in February three months after his appointment
  • Dismissal came days after he recommended against the third-term bid
BBC
The signs of heavy fighting are seen over Bujumbura
The signs of heavy fighting are seen over Bujumbura

Oromia: Dhaqqaboo Eebaa, the oldest ever lived person, died at the age of 163,

(Oromian Economist) — Oromo Elder Dhaqqaboo Eebbaa  (1853-2015): The oldest man ever to have lived has died at age of 163. His eldest son Ahmed Dhaqqboo,  now  128, is  the oldest living person on earth.
This is the moment of deepest sorrow for Oromo people as  they have lost their respected  elder, the  oldest and one of the richest library. The burial ceremony of Dhaqqaboo Eebbaa was held at his birth place in rural village of Dodolaa District in West Arsi Zone of Oromia  State. Dhaqqaboo Eebbaa was born in 1853 in specific rural place called Serofta around Dodolaa town from his father Eebbaa Badhaaso and his mother Washo Kolocho.
Dhaqqaboo Eabbaa passed away on May 10, 2015 at 11: 30 pm. He was dubbed by many as a living library of three  centuries with his old memories and knowledge of the social, economic and political history of the people and the country. He witnessed major historical events in the Oromo nation and North East Africa.
Obbo Dhaqqaboo Eebbaa had lived through  independent Oromia in the second half of 19th century, witnessed the colonization of his  country and nine  Ethiopian empire regimes. The eldest son Ahmed Dhaqqboo is now  the oldest living person, he is 128 years old. He considered his  father as his best friend. Even though the world  knows little about the legendary Oromo elder, Dhaqqaboo Eebbaa will be remembered in recorded Oromo history, by his villagers and the entire Oromo people forever. He is deeply missed. Rest in Peace! Biyyoon isinitti haa salphatu.

Wednesday 13 May 2015

New,Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Music/Band – WBO Jabadhaa 2015



Elections in Ethiopia: Beyond winning (and losing)


filannoo-bara-2007-700x357(Ajeb New) –Election fever is gaining momentum in Ethiopia. It is ‘Election 2015’, the 5th general election since Ethiopia’s formal adoption of the more (or less) liberal constitution of 1995 that ended the hesitant ‘transition’ from the Derg’s military rule to a western-style representative democracy[1]. The projected aim of the transition was to liberalize and pluralize the politics, to reform and resuscitate the economy, to restructure the state (through democratization and decentralization), and to transform the hitherto tenuous state-society relations. Through the constitution, the regime provided itself the legal edifice on which to ensure that transitional project is attained and a liberal democracy (expressed through representative and participatory institutions) is formally instituted. In a gesture of transforming the state, the constitution recognized national diversity, legalized collective rights such as the right to self-determination[2], and institutionalized federal non-centralization. Having ostensibly demilitarized politics [3], electoral contestation became the formal mode of contending for political power. The election fever that is steadily gripping the nation now is the symptom of that contention.
Over the last few weeks, controversy has progressively raged over the politics and the logistics of the upcoming election. Decisions pertaining to recognition by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) of political parties with the ‘right’ leadership [4], registration of ‘qualified’ candidates [5], and ensuring the proper adherence to the relevant rules of constitutional, electoral, and political party registration laws have provoked a lot of ire among some of the parties seeking to partake in the election. Rulings over who is qualified as a candidate and which party is qualified as a contestant have unleashed a conversation over the process and speculations over the outcome of the election. In the first election debate conducted live on public television, the major ideological fault lines between the three major political parties were outlined. In the same week, we heard that some of the parties (such as the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum, alias Medrek in Amharic) were denied access to the state media (Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation, EBC) on the pretext that the parties’ criticism of the media’s bias towards the incumbent is an attempt to undermine the impartiality of the media. Their petition to the NEBE has not found a response yet. Not entirely unexpectedly, tension has started to build up.
 As anyone familiar with Ethiopia and its histories knows, the tension around elections is only symptomatic of deeper issues that have roots in—but never contained by—the political contestations of the past. In this piece, I offer a reflection on what election means to the various sectors of the population in the Ethiopian polity in the light of that past. I will thus reflect on what election means to the incumbent, the opposition political parties, and to the electorate, north and south. Along the way, I will also reflect on the mood in the context of which the election takes place. By drawing historical parallels between 2015 and 1915 (historical moments when two dead leaders—Meles Zenawi and Menelik II, respectively -rule from the grave in spite of the place holders whose genealogies make them unlikely successors, namely Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and Emperor Eyasu II, alias Lij/Abeto Eyasu, respectively), I will point to the continuity in the nature of the State in which the election takes place, irrespective of the appearance of change. Lastly, I will offer my points on what is beyond winning and losing this particular election, and how it affects the nature of the Ethiopian state.
 The starting point of this reflection is that election is a language. It is the new language one speaks in order to secure democratic legitimacy. Posited within the confines of liberal constitutionalism, it is a particular language with the idiom and vernacular of modern representative democracy. Whoever is proficient in this language technically ‘wins’ the election. In this piece, in a rather iterative manner, I reflect on the ‘facility’ or ‘proficiency’ of the contestants in this language within the context of Ethiopia in order to imagine what is beyond winning (orlosing) this election.
 The thrust of my argument is that there is much more work to do about the state than partaking in the motion of election. There is more to Ethiopia than mastering the language of election. I suggest that to EPRDF election is a mode of securing a technical legitimacy. To its adversaries, it is a mode of resistance to hegemonic oppression. Some of its adversaries resist its hegemonic position if only to replace it with their own. Others resist it and the State form it embodies and represents. For this latter group, the election is, more than anything else, a gesture of negating the status quo, it is a talking back to power, an utterance of societal pain long suppressed and contained. It is a way of sustaining a lamentation. It is yet another moment of reminding Ethiopia that all is not well. For the protagonists in this election saga, especially for the ruling EPRDF, the election is merely war by other means. As such, for EPRDF, it is a mode of entrenching its power by eliminating its opponents through the technology of election. Consequently, the election has little to do with the desired transformation of the state-society relations in Ethiopia.
 As a result, I argue, there is little the election can do to tackle outstanding political issues that are contained in the unfinished business of state-building. In particular, there is little it can do to expand citizenship to the subject peoples of the wider South. EPRDF’s anti-democratic posture to disallow a political space where deeply political issues can be discussed (by reducing everything down to the technicalities of law and economic governance) is a proclamation of closure of politics by relegating the discussion to the realm of techniques. Election is thus reduced to a mode of enhancing what the French philosopher Michel Foucault calls ‘governmentality’, a technical-ideological apparatus of controlling and regulating the population by eliciting acquiescence in their own control and regulation. EPRDF’s adversaries, especially the north-central ethio-political class, also play their own role in this proclamation and enactment of closure of politics by aestheticizing a heavily contested political issue. As I shall argue in subsequent sections, they engage in exoticizing and aestheticizing an essentially political issue of the past and thefuture. They engage in a double movement that also politically demonizes – and excludes – the essentially political questions (such as the question of diversity [sameness and difference], historical political violence/injustice, misrecognition, inclusion-in-citizenship, and co-equal (re)founding of the polity. They thus aestheticize the inaugural violence by iconizing the leaders of the past through a raft of artistic products (images and lyrics, pictures and songs, etc) thereby rehabilitating them from the tyranny and oppression they represented, the tyranny and oppression they were once criticized for. At the same time, they demonize what could probably be the most important political question of modern Ethiopia—the question of diversity—by presenting it rather negatively as “politicized ethnicity.”
By so doing, i.e., by removing the important issues from the realm of the political to that of the aesthetic, they do their own bit of closing the political space for discussing the irreducibly political questions politically. The combined effect of these closures (by both groups)—born chiefly out of insecurity of EPRDF as a Government, only symptomatic of the greater insecurity of the ever more fragile Ethiopian State it runs, manages, and embodies—causes our judgement of the process and consequence of the election to be pessimistic. The insecurity of the ‘eternal kingdom’ assumed to have been established by Menelik, Haileselassie, and Mengistu; the insecurity born out of the incomplete nation-building project, prompts EPRDF’s opponents of the Amhara constituency to aspire for similar closure of the political space through aestheticization and exoticization of the infinitely political questions.
 2. The Mood: Hope and Anticipation, or Angst and Despair?
 Election is time-bound. Its temporality is its essence. The intensity or lack thereof is the function of its being limited in time. As a result, its process, outcome, and significance are dependent on the ‘political ecology’ of the time. It is dependent on what is ‘in the air’, what is troubling the polity, and what is exercising the large majority of the electorate. This is because election needs a particular kind of ‘democratic ambience’, as it were, a (more or less) festive atmosphere imbued with hope and anticipation (the subtext of which is fear and anxiety). Election has its own ‘mood’, sort of a national ‘political labor’. Understanding the mood – capturing the pulse of the polity in the electoral moment – helps us situate the election (the process, the result, and the context) in proper perspective. This underscores the supreme importance of a ‘right’ ‘political ecology’ that can engender hope (of winning) and of security (in the event of losing).
 Hope and anxiety attend to all elections, the hope of winning and the angst of losing. However, in as much as possible, it is important that a proper balance is stricken between hope and fear, anticipation and despair. After all, the hope of renewal – the promise of exercising creative agency among the electorate – is an important ingredient of a healthy electoral democracy.
 What attends Election 2015 in Ethiopia? Two areas of the public life of Ethiopia must be considered in order to map the electoral mood, namely the civic-political space for active citizens who can engage in politics on the one hand and the ‘nature’ of the state and its relation with the society on the other.
 2.1 Civic-Political Space in Decline
 The civic-political space has been a subject of controversy, especially since the 2005 election, the election that revealed not only the outer limits of the public sphere but also the foundational cracks in the State form in Ethiopia. In the wake of the 2005 election, the regime started to stiffen the rules of procedure in the parliament thereby limiting the discursive space even within the EPRDF-dominated parliament. That was followed by a raft of legislations on the civic/public space available for dissent, or its discursive and institutional articulation. These legislations constrained freedoms that are instrumental for, and constitutive of, democracy at a time. The Freedom of Mass Media and Access to Information Proclamation (Proclamation N0. 590/2008), the Anti-terrorism Proclamation (Proclamation No. 652/2009), and the Charities and Societies Proclamation (Proclamation No. 621.2009) were the three major legislative acts deployed by the Ethiopian government to (re)occupy the already limited space for political dissent and consequent pluralism. These laws, for all their preambular commitment to expand and implement constitutional right to freedom of expression, press and association rationalized and perfected the pre-existing streak noticed in the regime’s intolerance of expressed dissent. Self-censorship has become a way of being, a way of life, among journalists and other writers as a result. The prohibitive punishment/fines in the media and press laws and the expansion of the anti-terrorism law to press products (art 6 of Proc. 652/2009) [vi] have effectively muted an overt criticism. The extensive use of surveillance [vii], the blocking of several websites (perceived to be in opposition to the regime in power), jamming of other press/media outlets has contributed to the increasing undermining of the expression of robust dissent.
 The challenge of financial self-sustenance faced by civil society organizations working on causes related to human rights, democracy, and conflict, among otbers, owing to the prohibition of external funding above the 10 % maximum has not only forced such bodies to close or re-organize themselves as purely humanitarian organizations or relocate themselves as foreign or ‘resident’ NGOs, it also severely limited their voice as an alternative articulation of socio-economic challenges of the people from the perspective of daily lived experience [viii]. The government increasingly became the only source of information on vital socio-economic and political issues of various sectors of the society.
 The invocation of the anti-terrorism law for trivial reasons such as having a contact with foreign journalists, international non-governmental human rights organizations (such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch), or foreign diplomats and embassies has effectively smothered people into watching their contacts and relationships. People feel that their relationships and exchanges (physical and electronic) are monitored. The invocation of the anti-terrorism law in relation to the Muslim activists protesting government intervention in religious affairs [ix]and the ‘Zone 9’ [x] bloggers and journalists jailed and currently standing trial has unveiled to us how the law can be strategically deployed against those the government perceives as opponents. This and other cases have shown the extent to which one can freely and peacefully express dissent without harassment, intimidation, and the terror of standing trial under the anti-terrorism law.
The pattern of government denial of the right of assembly and peaceful political demonstrations, especially when organized by political groupings perceived as fierce opponents of the regime (such as the Semayawi Party), selective permission of such meetings to factions of parties the government seeks to weaken (e.g. the faction within Unity for Democracy and Justice, UDJ), denial of meetings even within the premises of private organizations such as hotels to some groups (e.g. UDJ at the Imperial Hotel, 2009), the constant outlawing of meetings and demonstrations by unreasonably exploiting the “notification” duty under the Freedom of Assembly Proclamation (Proclamation No-3/1991) – where the duty to notify the municipality is interpreted as the duty to seek and secure prior permission – have all contributed to the practical stifling of freedom of assembly and peaceful demonstration. Through this strategy – and the rhetoric of averting “street action” and “color revolutions” [xi] – the government has effectively silenced political protest to its decisions, policies, and laws. This in turn has weakened and subverted participatory democracy envisaged in the constitution (art 8(3)). In practice, such violation of the right to assembly and peaceful demonstration has been repeatedly witnessed in the Muslim protest to the government’s unconstitutional intervention in the choice of leadership of, and doctrines for, the Muslim population (since 2011).
Freedom of association of political parties has repeatedly been violated in the process of political party registration by the NEBE. The recent intervention by the NEBE to ‘recognize’ the leadership of factions within the UDJ and the All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) is not only meddling with the internal issues of political parties, but also unconstitutionally limiting the freedom of association of members and their right to a choice of the leaders they deem fit to lead them.
Apart from this, one can say that there is a healthy ‘electoral climate’ only when – in addition to the right to vote and be elected – citizens have the right to administrative justice, i.e., the right of access to justice in a free, fair, and impartial court or tribunal, in the event that these rights are violated or threatened. The voter intimidation historically observed in the process of voter-registration by the kebeles (often suggesting possible deprivation of vital social and public services sought from local offices) are violative of the very basic political rights that are constitutive of the very essence of democratic practice. At times such intimidations tend to forget that their right to elect includes the freedom not to vote. They forget that in Ethiopia, voting is a right, not a duty.
The enhanced developmentalist gestures of the incumbent which views individual civil and political rights as less important in the face of the colossal “war on poverty”; the unabashed emphasis on growth (even in the Growth and Transformation Plan, GTP); its increasing turning away from its ‘original’ (1991) commitment to liberal policies (also charted out in the constitution); its continued neglect, or deliberate weakening, and strategic and manipulative use of democratic institutions (i.e., institutions of representation [House of Peoples’ Representatives, HPR, and House of Federation, HOF], empowerment [NEBE, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Ombudsman], and of accountability and monitoring [e.g. the judiciary, Anti-corruption Commission, Auditor General] are not helping to create an environment conducive for a free and fair election. To that extent, there are complaints, grumblings, and disaffection among most of the opposition political actors who have a stake in the election. So, the rules and rulings around the process suggest that the mood is less than ideal. But a more complete account of the mood is revealed only when we examine the contradictions that come from the state form in Ethiopia. In the next sub-section [which will come in the form of a second instalment in this series of reflection around Elections 2015], I will turn to considering these contradictions that emanate from the state form and the constraints they impose on electoral democracy.
Endnote
*Tsegaye R Ararssa is a Constitutional lawyer currently in the process of completing his PhD studies at the University of Melbourne Law School. He can be contacted at tsegayer@gmail.com.
[1] The Transitional Charter of July 1991 starts with recognition of the supreme importance of the UDHR, especially civil and political rights such as freedom of expression, assembly, association. It explicitly made assertions about the need for comprehensive restructuring of the state by ensuring equality and sovereignty of the ‘nations, nationalities, and peoples” of Ethiopia and by foregrounding the right to self-determination as an organizing principle. It was negotiated principally among ethno-national liberation fronts (most centrally TPLF, OLF, EPLF but also others) who referred to themselves as “the peace-loving forces of Ethiopia”. See, Provisional Government of Ethiopia, ‘Transitional Period Charter,’ Negarit Gazetta, Proclamation No. 1/1991.
[2] Art 39 (1-3) entitles every “nation, nationality, and people” to the right to political, cultural, and economic self-determination.
[3] EPRDF was quick to work on disarming the army of the Derg and the fighters of the other liberation fronts that negotiated the Transition with it. It also proclaimed its TPLF fighters to serve as the Ethiopian Defence Force of the transitional period. The demobilization of some of the soldiers came later after the formal inauguration of the FDRE as per the Constitution. It is interesting that the first government-like institution set up everywhere immediately after the arrival of EPRDF on the scene was the “Peace and Stability Committees”. Most meetings it held in its attempt to build rapport with the people was invariably called “Peace and Democracy Conference”. The people who negotiated the Transitional Charter referred to themselves as “the peace Loving Forces of Ethiopia.” There was a rhetoric that privileged peace even in the leaders’ speeches/interviews on why relinquish Ethiopia’s right/interest over Eritrea without a fight. The climactic moment in this series of peace-venerating rhetoric came when a line is inserted even in the preamble of the FDRE Constitution to the effect that the constitution-makers are “determined to consolidate, as a lasting legacy, the peace and the prospect of a democratic order…” This flourish in rhetoric never matched with reality. The fact that TPLF’s army became the State’s national army and substantially remained to be so to date indicates not only the partisan nature of the army but also the fundamentally militarized nature of EPRDF’s politics that keeps a politicized guerilla fighters for a national army. Obviously, the needed separation of politics from (military) force in a democracy is absent in Ethiopia.
[4]  The NEBE made a blunder around the election of the leadership of the All Ethiopian Unity p party (AEUP), the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ).
[5] Some candidates of parties such as the UDJ and Semayawi (notably its leader Engineer Getinet Yilikal) were excluded allegedly because of the overcrowding of candidates that are running for elections in one electoral district.
[vi] Art 6 entitled “Encouragement of terrorism” reads as follows: “Whoever publishes or causes the publication of a statement that is likely to be understood by some or all of the members of the public to whom it is published as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducement to them to the commission or preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism stipulated under article 3 of this proclamation is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 10 to 20 years.” This article has been almost routinely (ab) used to arrest persons who run photocopy shops both in Addis Ababa and other towns.
[vii] Claire Lauterbach, “Ethiopia expands surveillance capacity with German tech via Lebanon” (23 March 2015).https://www.privacyinternational.org/?q=node%2F546
[viii] The law on Charities and Societies limits the amount of foreign money that goes into the budget of an Ethiopian (activist) NGO to a maximum of 10 % of the total. The reason given is to limit an external influence on the local organization’s agenda of promoting human rights, democracy, peace and security, etc. In principle, the argument goes, these issues of governance are a matter under the sovereign jurisdiction of the government of Ethiopia and are not items to be shaped by financing external forces. In order to get more funding, one should be registered as a ‘resident’ or a foreign/international NGO who, if it seeks to work on issues of political governance (e.g. elections, democracy, human rights, conflict resolution, constitutionalism and rule of law, prisons, access to justice, minorities etc), should get a specific permission from the government. This has made it necessary for many of the NGOs to recast the focus of their work shifting mostly from human rights to humanitarian causes and their approach from human rights based approach (HRBA) to needs-based approach (NBA).
[ix] The Muslim activists have been protesting peacefully against the government’s interference in their religious affairs. They particularly called on the government to desist from assigning teachers and determining the content of the teachings to be delivered in Mosques. They also sought to exercise their right to select their own religious leaders without any influence by the government. After the arrest and indictment of the leaders of these protests (and those government claims are associated with them), the protestors continued to demonstrate demanding the release of their leaders. Their peaceful protest has been met by a series of violence, arrests, and various forms of intimidation by the government’s police and security forces. The arrested leaders have been tried for terrorism since. Their case has gone has been debated before regular and constitutional tribunals (CCI/HOF) and is even presented to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Muslim protestors relentlessly insisted on a peaceful resistance throughout; when they are unlawfully forced to face trial, they tried to exhaust all the possible legal remedies both national and international with a hope that the government will have no excuse in accusing them of any form of violence let alone terrorism. By so doing, they are in effect putting the entire system on trial.
[x] In March 2014, six bloggers (whose blog is known as Zone 9) and three journalists were suddenly arrested and are now being tried for terrorism.
[xi] The term “Color Revolution” is often mockingly used in Ethiopia to invoke the memory of the Rose Revolution (of Georgia) and Orange Revolution (of Ukraine) and deny their possibility in Ethiopia. It is also used by EPRDF to suggest that, unlike the regimes in Georgia and Ukraine, they are too strong to be unseated by such street actions and unarmed/civilian struggles