Meles re-elected, opposition MPs boycott session

Ethiopia's parliament re-elected incumbent Prime Minister Meles Zenawi for another five-year term on Monday even as more than 100 opposition members boycotted the opening session of the legislative body. Meles, whose Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) party won a bitterly contested election in May, was chosen at the official opening of the new parliament, which was broadcast live on state-run television. The ceremony in the capital, Addis Ababa, was boycotted by the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD). The CUD said they would only join parliament if the government released opposition members who were recently arrested and allowed the party to re-open offices which were shut by the government during weeks of political unrest. Opposition parties have been protesting since the May polls, claiming that the voting was rigged in favour of the ruling party. Violent clashes with security forces in June left 42 protesters dead. International observers have given mixed reviews of the polls. In his opening speech, Ethiopian President Girma Wolde Gorgis warned that political parties and independent candidates were "duty bound" to take their seats. The government, he added, would take "appropriate steps" against opposition groups who it believed were undermining the rule of law. The president accused certain groups - whom diplomats and analysts believed to be the CUD - of not addressing their complaints through the constitution but rather "through conspiracy and violence". The EPRDF now controls 59 percent of the 547-seat parliament after winning 327 seats during the elections and subsequent re-runs of the vote. Opposition parties only won 12 seats during the last elections in 2000. This time, however, they have 176 seats - 32 percent of the parliament, with the CUD controlling 109 seats, or 20 percent of parliament. The other main opposition party, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, took up their 52 seats and attended the opening session. "It goes without saying that our efforts for democratisation and rapid economic development can only bear fruit if there is sustainable peace, both internally and externally," Girma told more than 400 parliamentarians. "As the government has the right and the duty to see to it that peace prevails and law and order are respected, it will not allow those who follow the path that wavers between legal and illegal means of struggle to continue doing so. "It goes without saying that the government will have to sooner or later make the necessary decision and take appropriate steps as the current state of affairs will have dire consequences on the overall well being of our country," he added. He urged the government to address the massive poverty that afflicts the nation of 71 million people, which receives around US $1.9 billion in aid each year. "I would like to point out that in the next several years the government's focus will have to be on solving our shortcomings in policy implementation and good governance as well as enhancing the democratic culture," he said. While economic growth had been around 10 percent over the last two years, he noted, the private sector needed to play a key role. He added that the concerns of the rural and urban populations in Ethiopia must also be swiftly addressed.