Opposition group takes legal action over polls

Ethiopia's main opposition group, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), on Tuesday launched legal action to prevent the release of disputed provisional results of the 15 May parliamentary polls that showed that the ruling party had won. CUD said massive vote rigging had cast doubt on the results, and threatened nationwide protests if the announced returns were made final. "The CUD has filed charges in court demanding that the National Election Board (NEB) desist from issuing election results that include disputed constituencies," Berhanu Nega, vice chairman of the CUD, told reporters. He added: "CUD has requested the court that the illegal banning of public demonstrations the prime minister has imposed on the people of Addis Ababa, thus violating their constitutional right to assemble peacefully, be lifted." According to provisional results released by the NEB, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had so far won 299 seats out of the 507 counted, while its allies had garnered 19 seats. Opposition parties are, however, contesting the results of more than 200 seats. Preliminary results showed that they had won 189 seats - a steep rise over the 12 they had in the last parliament. Berhanu said his party had lodged complaints over 156 seats and claimed they had won 319 seats in the 547-seat parliament. The CUD called for international observers to take part in investigations. "We will accept the results of investigations if we believe they have been proper and fair, but we cannot accept any investigations that do not meet that criteria," Berhanu said. "That is when we will think seriously about what to do next and what protest demonstrations will take place." They were planning to call for a nationwide general strike to protest what they have claimed was massive vote rigging by the ruling party - a charge the EPRDF has repeatedly dismissed. The vice chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, Beyene Petros, told reporters at a separate press conference that his party was contesting results from more than 400 polling stations in 79 constituencies. European Union (EU) election observers said they had neither the mandate nor the resources to join any investigations into complaints. "However, a group of long-term observers will remain in Ethiopia until the end of the election process," an EU spokesman said. Meles' EPRDF has raised concerns over irregularities in more than 50 seats. Political parties have until 3 June to provide evidence of fraud. Failure to do so would lead to the dismissal of their complaints. Final results are to be released on 8 June, but the NEB said they may be delayed due to the scores of complaints it must investigate before ratifying the provisional results. The provisional results are based on vote counting that took place at about 31,000 polling stations in the country. The EU has said delays in releasing the results raised the prospect of fraud.