Opposition party threatens to boycott parliament

Ethiopia's main opposition party on Monday threatened to boycott the next parliament unless its complaints of alleged vote rigging in last week's general elections were resolved. Hailu Shawel, leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), said his party would not join any government if it believed that the elections were unfair. "The probability is high that we will not be part of this government - any government," he told reporters at the CUD headquarters in the capital, Addis Ababa. "If it is fairly decided and each complaint we have is investigated by tripartite organisations, the board itself, foreign observers, plus those who lodge their complaints [...] we will join parliament, win or lose," he added. "But if these decisions are not properly investigated, we can’t do that because this is not the decision of the people." Hailu said that the CUD believed they had won in the 139 constituencies – almost one-third of the country’s 547 seats - where they are calling for the National Election Board (NEB) to investigate. "We have concrete proof in each location," he said, holding a copy of the 34-page document listing their complaints that they had submitted to the NEB on Monday. "We believe that in these 139 constituencies we would comfortably win," he added. "So we are trying to regain those constituencies that have been snatched by the ruling party." Hailu, a wealthy businessman, also called for the Ethiopian public to engage in strikes if they believed the vote was not properly investigated by the election board. "You can go out and have peaceful demonstrations, hold a vigil - it could be strikes or stay-at-homes," he said. "We demand the right of the people to ensure what they gave in the ballot box is what happens now and in the future. If the National Election Board moves quickly and correctly there might never be political action." The NEB has asked four senior judges to start investigating complaints received from all political parties, said spokesman Getahun Amogne. "We consider every complaint, but we have to decide which complaints need to be investigated," he told reporters. "Some we might reject, some we can give immediate decisions on and some we have to make further investigations. We expect to give immediate decisions or very quick responses to these complaints." The ruling party has also lodged more than 50 complaints – mainly in Oromiya, the country’s largest region, he added. The NEB also confirmed that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Trade Minister Girma Birru all retained their seats. The CUD threat to boycott the parliament came as results continued to trickle in. The latest figures indicated that 77 seats had gone to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and affiliated parties. The NEB said opposition parties had won 44 seats. "It is up to the opposition if they want to respect the will of the people," Bereket Simon, Ethiopia’s information minister and spokesman for the EPRDF, said. "The decision [to withdraw from parliament] remains in their hands, and the ruling party has no power to influence it," he told reporters. "Nevertheless, I assure you the counting and the tabulation has so far been conducted in a very good way which the ruling party has been satisfied with. "We have our complaints, as they do have their own, and we have passed them to the appropriate complaints procedure. We expect [the opposition] to abide by that rule and wait for the response of the election board," he added.