Carter calls for fair elections

Former US President Jimmy Carter warned on Friday that he would be ready to declare Ethiopia’s elections illegitimate if he had reason to believe that they were marred by widespread irregularities.

Speaking ahead of Ethiopia's polls due on Sunday, Carter told reporters in Addis Ababa that his team of observers would not shy away from challenging the outcome of the country’s third ever election if there was evidence of malpractice.

However, he added, his team had so far found no evidence of abuses in the country and that he believed Ethiopia had made “extraordinary progress” in democratisation.

"In a few cases we have declared the elections to be illegitimate and we make this statement to the people in that nation and the international community," he said. "That is a very profound action for us to take but we don’t hesitate to do that, if that should occur."

The former US president is leading a 50-member observer team from his charity, the Carter Center which he founded in 1982.

"My personal integrity and that of the Carter Center is at stake," he said on the first day of his four-day visit to the Horn of Africa nation. "I intend to make an absolutely accurate and unbiased assessment after
the election is over."

He questioned the expulsion of three American organisations that were promoting democracy in the country ahead of the elections.

Staff from the National Democratic Institute, the International Republic Institute and IFES were ordered out in March by the government.

"I personally would prefer that Ethiopia would have welcomed those three organisations to participate," he said. "We have worked hand in hand with some of them in the past."

Foreign embassies in Ethiopia also issued a statement calling for peaceful free and fair election.

More than 25 million of Ethiopia's 71 million people have registered to vote in the legislative elections. Some 35 political parties will vie for seats in the 547-seat Council of People's Representatives.

Voters will also elect representatives in nine regional state parliaments that appoint members of the 112-seat Council of the Federation, the upper house.