Every election year, Ethiopian opposition parties seem to have a habit of making pacts to cooperate, though their pacts doesn't last long after the elections. Here and there, they make coalitions to go against the incumbent EPRDF.
Every election year one most accustomed claim of theirs is that the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia is incompetent to handle the process. They also say they don't believe the board and the courts to be impartial. Therefore, "we are gonna boycott" the election is their usual poster for elections so far.
They appear to pin the fate of this country to their participation as if their participation is the magic wand to make the democratic process credible. What at best it indicates is that they are ill-prepared and not visionary enough to design the best in their power to deliver tangible solutions to formidable problems like poverty and backwardness.
Every matured democracy can have credible concerns for fraud in elections let alone a growing infant democracy like ours. The recent electoral contest between Barack Obama and his Republican Challenger Mitt Romney is a case in point.
There were fraudster concerns in Florida and Ohio at the least in the run-up to the election and the voting day. But what they do is deploy lawyers to try and make sure things go as fairly as possible. Despite that, both parties election campaigns were busy trying to lure votes to their favour.
Here every time election comes around, the game for the opposition is one and the same: "we know EPRDF is gonna rig the elections, and we are not gonna take part." They are a compete disgrace to the political process in the country.
While it is up to them to work to mobilize the public and negotiate with the ruling EPRDF on possible shortcomings to make sure the elections happen in the most possible open and fair manners, they tend to play the victim role by crying wolf every time elections happen.
I am't delusional to say there are not electoral fraud concerns but in no way those concerns can turn a real democratic force to take part in an election.
This is because every process has its significance in shaping our democracy of the future. Elections are not fair just because the opposition win the votes. They are fair and democratic if they are open and fair all through the process.
It seems to me that our opposition are stuck in issues of the past. If not, at least they are not good enough to negotiate and increase their leverage to manage successful elections that matter to the democratization of the country if not at best to unseat the incumbent.
What I see is the opposition in our country doesn't happen to be forces for solutions. They are just good enough to narrate problems here and there like any layman than studying the underlining causes of the national problems with their possible solutions.
I think this time around, the opposition need a new card to play with as we feel bored to be bombarded with the same complaints that the elections process is gonna be rigged, the electoral board is incompetent and the courts are impartial. New trick at least if not genuine civilized politics!
Every election year one most accustomed claim of theirs is that the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia is incompetent to handle the process. They also say they don't believe the board and the courts to be impartial. Therefore, "we are gonna boycott" the election is their usual poster for elections so far.
They appear to pin the fate of this country to their participation as if their participation is the magic wand to make the democratic process credible. What at best it indicates is that they are ill-prepared and not visionary enough to design the best in their power to deliver tangible solutions to formidable problems like poverty and backwardness.
Every matured democracy can have credible concerns for fraud in elections let alone a growing infant democracy like ours. The recent electoral contest between Barack Obama and his Republican Challenger Mitt Romney is a case in point.
There were fraudster concerns in Florida and Ohio at the least in the run-up to the election and the voting day. But what they do is deploy lawyers to try and make sure things go as fairly as possible. Despite that, both parties election campaigns were busy trying to lure votes to their favour.
Here every time election comes around, the game for the opposition is one and the same: "we know EPRDF is gonna rig the elections, and we are not gonna take part." They are a compete disgrace to the political process in the country.
While it is up to them to work to mobilize the public and negotiate with the ruling EPRDF on possible shortcomings to make sure the elections happen in the most possible open and fair manners, they tend to play the victim role by crying wolf every time elections happen.
I am't delusional to say there are not electoral fraud concerns but in no way those concerns can turn a real democratic force to take part in an election.
This is because every process has its significance in shaping our democracy of the future. Elections are not fair just because the opposition win the votes. They are fair and democratic if they are open and fair all through the process.
It seems to me that our opposition are stuck in issues of the past. If not, at least they are not good enough to negotiate and increase their leverage to manage successful elections that matter to the democratization of the country if not at best to unseat the incumbent.
What I see is the opposition in our country doesn't happen to be forces for solutions. They are just good enough to narrate problems here and there like any layman than studying the underlining causes of the national problems with their possible solutions.
I think this time around, the opposition need a new card to play with as we feel bored to be bombarded with the same complaints that the elections process is gonna be rigged, the electoral board is incompetent and the courts are impartial. New trick at least if not genuine civilized politics!
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