Tolera Fikru Gemta:- Election 2015: Superficial and Viable Political Perspectives – A Critical Reflection

By Tolera Fikru Gemta* | March 2015

The Finfinne-based Addis Fortune newspaper has presented four political parties with their dictated political perspectives, namely EPRDF (as “Democratic Developmentalist”), Medrek (as “Centrist”), the Ethiopian Democratic Party-EDP (as “Liberal”) and Semayawi Party (as “Moderate Liberal”). Either the newspaper’s editor or the leaders (i.e. interviewees) of the organizations defined the baseline and/or the criteria for the ascribed political perspectives of the respective organizations.

However, I prefer to critically question the practical viability of the ascribed ideological perspectives as follows. I think, in the strict sense of political mobilization and bases of the aforementioned political parties (and even others), the ascribed ideological alignments (such as Liberal, Moderate Liberal and Conservative/Nationalist) is superficial. For example, both EDP and Semayawi have never represented liberal political notions for the clear reason that their rank-and-file as well as their constituencies are more or less drawn from same nation – the Amhara. The mere fact that they opt to pursue bogus political aspirations under the pseudo “Ethiopian Nationalism” framework doesn’t make them liberal.

Thus, it is more viable to look into the perspectives of the parties on Ethiopian Politics (such as nation-building and national-domination) as well as their political goals (such as a centralized state, ethnics-based federation and geographic-based federation). In this account, both EPRDF and Medrek fall under the national-domination political perspective, but differ in the viability of their political goals.

EPRDF VS Medrek – Multiethnic Frontal Approach to Federation (of Pseudo and Functional)
EPRDF’s version of National Domination perspective is characterized by ethnic federalism under TPLF/EPRDF hegemony, as a political goal, while Mederk is promoting federation that accommodates unity and diversity, though it has not yet come up with a full-fledged proposal on the state system in Ethiopia. Medrek, as a front of major ethnic groups (Oromo, Sidama, Tigrean and South) and an advocator of functional federation, may represent a pragmatic political alternative to the present Ethiopian political context. I think UDJ-Andinet party, which had bogusly represented the Amhara nation in Medrek, has now withdrawn after failing to shape the Front towards realizing the Amharic-speaking Ethiopia.

EDP, Semayawi Party, UDJ-Andinet, AEDP, etc. – Centralized State in the Name of Liberalism
The perspectives of the other two parties (EDP and Semayawi parties) on Ethiopian Politics is hegemonic nation-building (which outrageously ignores the inviolable right of nations, nationalities and peoples to national self determination, and institutionalization based on their national identity). The covered political goal of such organizations is to reinforce centralized state (which is dominated by identity and culture of the Amharic-speaking nation). The other confusing part of these political organizations is their bogus orientation to certain features of liberalism. For example, both EDP and Semayawi promote individual rights (one notion of liberalism) which are phony in the Ethiopian context. At least in the present context, national identity (in which private and group rights mutually exist together) is the dominant factor for any political mobilization and organization.

Implications on Political Alignments and #Election2015 
One way of looking into political alignments and scenarios for the outcomes of the forthcoming #Election2015 is indeed to critically analyze the convergence and divergence in the political perspectives and goals of the actors – in fact, formidable parties – given that there will be minimum spaces/opportunities for a fair and free election.

EPRDF and MEDREK converge in many of their political aspects as much as EDP, Semayawi Party, Unity for Democracy and Justice (Andinet) and All-Ethiopian Democratic Party (the former All-Amhara Democratic Party – AEDP) do converge in many aspects of political perspectives and goals. This will thus explain the practical alignments of political actors in the present Ethiopia. In my opinion, the alignment of political actors along clear and practical political perspectives and desired goals is healthy and viable political development.

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* Tolera Fikru Gemta was the editor-in-chief of the former ‘Seife Nebelbal,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘Raji’ independent weekly newspapers. He also authored well-known Afan Oromo novels, namely ‘Imimmaan Haadhaa’ (2007, 2010 and 2014), ‘Qeerransa Bokkan Dhaane’ (2012), ‘Raayyaa Dhugaa’ (2013).