Concerns over delays in vote counting

European Union election observers said on Wednesday that the recent elections in Ethiopia were being seriously undermined by delays in the counting of votes. In a statement, the EU observers said the trickle of results, claims of victory by the government and opposition and the denial of access to the state-run media for government opponents was threatening the electoral process. "These practices, taken as a whole, are seriously undermining the transparency and fairness of the elections," a statement released by the observers said. "They also risk increasing the scope for manipulation and consequently putting in doubt public confidence in the process." On Wednesday, results from only 186 constituencies of the 547-seat parliament had been tallied, despite the elections taking place nine days earlier. Some 106 seats had gone to the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and affiliated parties, the National Election Board (NEB) said. The opposition parties had won 80 seats. The observer mission, led by Ana Gomes, expressed "regret" at the way the NEB was counting and releasing votes. "The European Union Election Observation Mission regrets the way in which the counting of the votes at the constituency level is being conducted as well as the way in which the release of results is being handled by the electoral authorities, the government and the political parties, especially the EPRDF," it said. The mission criticised the state-run media in the country, saying it had a "duty to report on post-election events in an even-handed manner. This duty includes allowing all parties access to the media, albeit while respecting the public interest". The NEB had promised to release provisional results last Saturday, but only a handful came in. It has been releasing new results each day. Getahun Amogne, the NEB spokesman, said on Wednesday: "There is no legislation that stops parties from claiming they have won seats. The NEB will announce officially the results and they will remain final." "By the end of this day we expect to receive almost half of the results," he added. "Most constituencies have notified their results, except those where complaints have been submitted, so we don’t believe we are lagging behind. We are progressing very well." The main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), has threatened to boycott the parliament if its claims of irregularities are not investigated. The CUD is contesting the results of 139 constituencies that it says it has won. The ruling party has also lodged more than 50 complaints – mainly in Oromiya, the country’s largest region. The NEB has asked four senior judges to help go through all the complaints in time for the declaration of the official result on 8 June.