Thousands of observers to be deployed in May polls

Some 3,000 observers are to be deployed throughout Ethiopia on 15 May to monitor elections, the Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA), an umbrella body of civil-society organisations, said. "This represents a major stride for CSOs [community-based organisations] and NGOs [non-governmental organisations] in terms of their engagement in [the] election as compared to the preceding general election, when only a few were involved in the area," CRDA, which has over 200 members, added in a statement. Ten donor countries have so far pledged around US $6 million to support the elections - only the third democratic ballot in Ethiopia's history. According to one western diplomat, domestic observers would play a crucial role in building public confidence in the elections. "It is certainly welcome and it would be a very important part of local ownership of the elections," the diplomat told IRIN. "In some countries, you have observers in every polling station, so we are talking tens of thousands - so there is possible room to increase the numbers," the diplomat added. Another 200 international observers are also expected on polling Day while the European Union is fielding a "long-term", election-observer mission, which is expected to arrive in the country on 15 March. Tesfaye Mengesha, deputy head of the National Election Board (NEB), welcomed the civil society deployment, but said a final decision has yet to be made. "We have accepted their request and now we are preparing their credentials," he told IRIN. "The board will decide which organisations can observe the elections. There is no restriction on the number of observers, so we accept any request and it could help because they can cover a wide area." Ethiopia has a two-house parliament: the 110-seat upper House of the Federation and the 547-seat lower House of People's Representatives. The NEB said 55 political parties would contest the seats, with more than 25 million people expected to vote.