Food or Vote? Story told in pictures here.

Official results from last month's parliamentary elections in Ethiopia will be delayed by one month, and are now due to be announced on 8 July.

This will allow election authorities to investigate hundreds of alleged episodes of fraud and vote rigging.

Opposition parties have vowed to stage mass protests if the provisional results are validated ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) -- Ethiopian authorities have released without charge eight journalists arrested in connection with reports they filed after last month's parliamentary polls, the country's main media association said on Friday.

The arrests came amid rising tension in Africa's top coffee- grower following the elections, which opposition leaders accuse the ruling party of rigging to stay in power ...

The Federal First Instant Court will give on Friday its decision on its jurisdiction right, whether to press charges against Prime Minister Meles Zenawi or not.

The Federal First Instant Court, which heard charges made by the lawyers of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) on Thursday said that it will give its verdict on Friday afternoon after seriously deliberating on the report.

Lawyers of CUD have explained to the court on Thursday about their constitutional rights to file charges against Meles ...

Thousands of Ethiopians peacefully demonstrated outside the State Department on May 26 to call for full transparency in the vote counting that is taking place after the recent parliamentary elections in Ethiopia. Parading slogans like  "Support free and fair elections in Ethiopia" and "President Bush, Secretary Rice, Ethiopians Demand Respect for Their Votes," a crowd of 1,500 and 2,000 people stood outside the State Department on a bright and sunny morning chanting for greater freedom and democracy in their country ...

Ethiopian authorities arrested eight Ethiopian journalists on Thursday in connection with reports they filed following last month's general election, the country's main journalists' association said.

"The eight journalists were arrested in connection with their reports following the May 15 parliamentary election," said a statement from Kifle Mulate, president of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association which is comprised of members of privately-owned media ...

International observers will not involve in the investigation process of the election complaints presented both by the ruling and opposition parties, United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) disclosed.

Officials of UEDF said that international observers are not in a position to involve in the investigation process of the complaints.

Dr. Beyene Petros, Vice Chairman of UEDF told journalists that there is a fear that the investigation process of the election complaints will face great difficulties due to the unwillingness of the international observers ...

The opposition Oromo National Congress (ONC) has said that 13 of its members were killed before and after election time.

It also said that its victorious candidates are fleeing from their respective constituencies after failed assassination attempt on their lives.

While briefing Adis Zena, the party said five out of the 13 members were killed between 14 and 15 Ginbot 97 (22-23 May 2005) by members of the reserve army, who were said to have come from Beladumo town, Fedis District, eastern Harerge zone in eastern Ethiopia ...

Both the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and the opposition have accused each other of attempting to rig votes in the polls, the second set of real multi-party elections in Africa's top coffee grower.

Official results from the elections, which despite the latest figures have delivered a far bigger swing to the opposition than many observers had expected, are due on June 8 ...

Ethiopia's ruling coalition and allied parties won an absolute majority in the 547-seat parliament during the recent elections, according to the latest results released by the national electoral commission on Saturday.

According to returns from 453 constituencies, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi won 269 seats and allies parties another 14 in the May 15 legislative polls.

This gives the ruling coalition 283 seats, well above the absolute majority of 274 in the federal parliament ...

The final results in Ethiopia's parliamentary election may be delayed because of hundreds of complaints and allegations of fraud filed by the candidates, the National Electoral Board spokesperson said on Friday.

The board was scheduled to release the final results of the May 15 election on June 8. New elections have already been scheduled for 16 of the country's 34 000 polling stations because of irregularities.

The election board has received complaints in almost 200 constituencies ...

Ethiopia's electoral board appears to have lost control of the vote counting for the May 15 legislative polls, European Union election observers said in a report obtained by the Associated Press Wednesday.

The confidential report said the EU might have to make a public denunciation of developments to distance itself from "the lack of transparency, and assumed rigging" of the vote.

"Ten days after the polling day, the situation is of political uncertainty and informational chaos regarding the results of the election," said the confidential report ...

European Union election observers in Ethiopia have expressed regret at the slow pace of vote counting following elections 10 days ago.

The observer mission also criticised claims of victory by the governing party a day after the parliamentary vote and before any results.

The third democratic poll was the first scrutinised by foreign observers.

Ethiopia's National Elections Board says it is now investigating claims of fraud in more than 200 constituencies ...

Ethiopia's election has been marred by media manipulation by the ruling party and irregular vote counting that could hurt public confidence in the vote, a European Union observer mission said on Wednesday.

Votes are still being counted after Ethiopia's May 15 poll and six constituencies are due to stage re-votes on Saturday to decide who will control its 547-member federal parliament.

The EU mission accused the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of using the state-run media to report only its partial victories and to hide criticism of it or news that favoured the opposition ...

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" ...

The leader of Ethiopia’s main opposition bloc, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, says it has held internal discussions about peaceful means of protest. This, in case disputes over this month’s parliamentary elections are not resolved.  Both the ruling EPRDF party and the opposition say they’re ahead in the counting for the 547-seat body.  The government has issued a temporary ban on any public protests ...

Two strong opposition parties contesting in the election were divided in principle in establishing the next government in Ethiopia.

Officials of United Ethiopia Democratic forces (UEDF) said that though the ruling party (EPRDF) is losing the majority of votes during this year's election, it is time to involve in dialogue with opposition parties to establish the next government ...

Scholars urged the ruling party (EPRDF) and opposition parties contesting in this year's election to hold a dialogue to establish the next government.

Well-known scholars who called on all the parties said that it is time in Ethiopia to establish the next government in a democratic and peaceful manner ...

Ethiopia's recent elections have been marked by a huge breakthrough for the Ethiopian opposition, which in the last parliament held only 12 seats.

It also is said to have been the most open election held in Ethiopia, and the first to be monitored by international observers.

Opposition parties are now expected to increase their representation in parliament significantly ...

Ethiopia's opposition threatened Monday to boycott the next session of parliament unless its complaints of widespread vote fraud in last week's general elections are resolved.

With preliminary official returns from only a fraction of the country's 547 constituencies announced by election authorities more than a week after the polls, the opposition also urged the Ethiopian people to prepare to peacefully protest any attempt to whitewash their complaints ...

The ruling party has won just over half of the seats declared so far from elections last Sunday in Ethiopia.

The Election Board said it would continue publishing results piecemeal after failing to announce them as planned on Saturday.

Both sides have complained about irregularities and the opposition has threatened to reject the results ...

ADDIS ABABA, May 22 (Reuters) - Fresh ballots were held in Ethiopia on Sunday for six disputed seats after candidates alleged fraud in the May 15 polls, the electoral board said.

The Ethiopian Election Board has said it is investigating charges of major voting fraud levelled by the ruling party and the opposition in the second set of real multiparty elections to be held in Africa's top coffee grower ...

Seventy election observers of the opposition Oromo National Congress, (ONC), in Bedeno and Weter town have sought refuge at the Red Cross in Harer, in eastern Ethiopia.

The Red Cross has rejected their request.

A senior ONC official, Ms Almaz Seifu, told The Reporter that the observers sought refuge at the Red Cross fearing for their lives after receiving threats ...

Addis Ababa - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been re-elected to parliament, election authorities said on Sunday, as early results from last week's polls showed his ruling party edging ahead of the opposition.

With partial returns continuing to trickle in, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said results from 73 constituencies showed Meles's party with 37 seats in parliament compared to the opposition's 36 ...

The uproar over Ethiopia's hotly contested general elections last week and confusion and delays in releasing the results have sparked a massive boom for the country's nascent independent press.

With the government and opposition trading claims of victory and allegations of fraud and abuse amid relative silence from election authorities, the publishers of 40 general interest newspapers have reported a huge surge in circulation ...

Western donors have urged Ethiopian leaders to stay calm and talk to each other as they await the results of last Sunday's parliamentary vote.

"We ask all parties to respect the role of the National Election Board in counting and declaring the results," a statement from 21 ambassadors said.

The plea came amid claims of fraud and as first official results showed the opposition taking seats in the capital.

The final results are due to be announced on 8 June ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 21, 2005 (PANA) -- The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) has released provisional results of parliamentary elections held last Sunday, confirming the victory of the opposition in the capital Addis Ababa.

Candidates of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) swept all nine constituencies under the city administration to replace the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that had enjoyed powers of patronage over the city for the last 14 years ...

Addis Ababa - The first official preliminary returns from Ethiopia's hotly contested polls last weekend show the opposition almost doubling its number of parliamentary seats, the country's election board said on Saturday.

The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said the opposition had won 22 of the 27 constituencies from which it had so far received aggregated results. There are 547 constituencies in the country ...

Ethiopia's main opposition coalition said on Friday it will not accept election results for 84 seats that may hold the balance of power in the 547-strong Parliament, increasing already high tensions as the nation awaits official results.

Both opposition and ruling parties are claiming victory based on their own projections and trading charges of rigging. By Friday, the National Electoral Board had published results for 27 seats -- 22 of which went to the opposition, mostly in the capital, where the opposition is expected to win ...

The National Electoral Board said it would re-run elections in six constituencies on Sunday, but the opposition parties are demanding re-runs and recounts on a much larger scale. The first results showed a landslide victory for the CUD in the capital, Addis Ababa, with a number of government ministers losing their seats.

Dr Beyene Petros, deputy chairman of the UEDF - a coalition of 15 opposition parties - said the EPRDF may not have the number of votes necessary to form the next government ...

Ethiopia's National Electoral Board has announced that it plans to hold a new election this weekend at six polling stations where irregularities were reported during Sunday's vote.

National Electoral Board spokesman Getahun Belay tells VOA the six stations are located in the regions of Oromia, Afar, and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region, covering an estimated 9,000 voters. He says the repeat election, slated for Sunday, is needed in those stations mostly because of voting irregularities ...

Ethiopia's main opposition coalition is demanding ballot recounts and new votes in some areas where it says the ruling party tampered with Sunday's parliamentary poll.

The Coalition for Unity and Democracy said the elections were flawed in 84 constituencies.  It says, in some cases, supporters were prevented from voting, and in others, monitors were blocked from observing ballot counting ...

Ethiopia's electoral board on Thursday said it had started probing allegations of irregularities in Sunday's presidential vote, with rival parties continuing to claim victory.

"Some political parties have submitted complaints on the election process. The board has commenced its first hearing of the complaints," said Tesfaye Mengesha, deputy head of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) ...

Ethiopia's ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), and the two opposition parties claimed victory in last Sunday's election. Twenty-six million Ethiopians (out of a total population of 74.2 million,) registered to vote at 30,000 polling stations. The 90 per cent turnout was put down to "election fever".

The opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) is reported to have won all 23 seats in the capital, Addis Ababa. The ruling party has acknowledged the CUD took about a third of the 547 seats ...

Ethiopia’s main opposition parties say they’re on course to win the parliamentary elections – contradicting the ruling party’s claims of victory.  The ruling party says it’s won more than half the vote in last Sunday’s polls.

But the opposition – the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, CUD, and the United Ethiopian Democratic Front – say that’s not true.  They say initial results show they’ve taken more than 200 seats in about 250 constituencies where counting has been completed ...

Minneapolis, Minn. — The sycamore tree is an important symbol for people who come from the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Its broad limbs and green canopy serve as a town square of sorts. It's a meeting place and a signpost in the landscape. Oromo people put pictures of sycamores on their walls, on calendars and even on the flag for their political movement.

The tree isn't native to Minnesota, but the Oromo Center in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside area could serve the same purpose for the immigrants who live here ...

Ethiopia's largest opposition group has accused the ruling party of using what it calls "illegal means" to cling to power.  The denunciation comes after the party of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced it had won a clear mandate to form the next government in national elections Sunday.

A spokesman for the four-party opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Birhanu Nega, called the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's claim of a mandate as being premature, noting that the vote counting process from Sunday's parliamentary elections has not yet ended ...

Washington - The United States said on Monday the latest legislative elections in Ethiopia were fraught with multiple problems, but there was no evidence of systemic fraud.

"Administrative and procedural irregularities such as ballot shortages, slow lines and problems with voter registration lists were observed in various locations, but didn't appear to fit a pattern of systemic fraud," State Department spokesperson Richard Boucher said.

Boucher said major opposition parties had claimed harassment and intimidation during the polling and in the pre-electoral process, and these claims were being investigated ...

The current election is only superficially different from the past ones. First, unlike in the past, some opposition parties, which have no chance to win, are participating. Second, because the legitimacy of the first two elections was questioned, the EPRDF had decided to minimally and selectively tolerate the opposition to a given level and to give the semblance of a multi-party competition. As a result of this, it would knowingly loose some seats to the opposition to just bolster its claim that the democratization process is still not off track. That is the maximum limit of the EPRDF tolerance. Losing election for the EPRDF is not something that could be accepted or even imagined. The EPRDF’s relative tolerance of the opposition parties in big cities is a carefully crafted political machination performed for the purpose of impressing the donor countries and international organizations. It is a move done purposively to polish the image of the EPRDF. But the most important point is that it has a limit, and as political machination it is centrally controlled, and will only continue so long as the opposition does not pose a clear and imminent challenge endangering its tight grip on state power ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Early returns on Monday showed the opposition doing well in the capital after 90 percent of voters turned out for a parliamentary election seen as a test of Ethiopian leaders’ commitment to democracy.

The ruling coalition that ended an oppressive dictatorship in 1991 is expected to move ahead once results come in from rural areas, where most of Ethiopia’s 70 million people live ...

Addis Ababa - Ethiopia's opposition on Monday backed off a threat to reject nationwide results from hotly contested weekend elections it says were marred by fraud, saying their complaints were limited to key areas.

Instead, opposition leaders said they would protest irregularities and ask national election authorities to conduct new votes in specific places where they believe problems were particularly egregious ...

Ethiopia's main opposition coalition said on Monday it had won around 20 out of 23 seats in the capital Addis Ababa during Sunday's parliamentary elections, citing unofficial results posted up at polling stations.

Ethiopia's opposition has posed a stronger challenge to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi than at previous elections, although his ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front is widely expected to win a majority in the 547-seat assembly ...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's ruling party claimed election victory on Monday, citing initial poll results that pointed to a majority for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi despite sweeping opposition gains in the capital.

The party that has ruled Ethiopia since Meles toppled Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam at the head of a rebel army in 1991 had been widely favoured to win the second real multi-party polls in Africa's top coffee grower ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi banned all demonstrations in and around Addis Ababa as allegations of national voting fraud emerged.

In a televised address, Meles said the ban would last one month and he was personally assuming direct control of police and other security forces as Sunday's ballots were counted and accusations were investigated ...

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi late on Sunday banned all public demonstrations in the capital and assumed direct control of the security forces after elections the opposition said were marred by widespread fraud.

Meles, widely thought to have won a third term in the polls, said he took the steps to ensure post-election stability despite huge voter turnout and praise from international observers who doubted the opposition charges ...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 15, 2005 (AP) -- Ethiopians lined up before dawn on a cool, misty morning Sunday to vote in the country's third election in the country's 3,000-year history, making a choice between the ruling coalition that ended a brutal dictatorship in 1991 and new opposition parties who promise greater liberalization ...

Late Saturday, opposition leaders accused the police of rounding up hundreds of opposition candidates and poll observers in order to rig the elections in the rural areas.

"We are extremely distressed, having worked very hard ... The reports we are receiving are only the tip of the iceberg," said Beyene Petros, vice chairman of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces ...

Thirty-six parties are contesting places in the 547-seat lower House of People's Representatives. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF),the country's two major opposition parties, are challenging the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's 14 years in power.

CUD, founded in November 2004, is made up of five parties. Its chairman is US-educated economist Hailu Shawel and the All Amhara People's Organization is the alliance's core party.

Set up in July 2003, UEDF groups 15 parties. Its chairman, Merera Gudina, is professor of the prestigious Addis Ababa University. The Oromo National Congress is the alliance's core party ...

A look at the main political alliances competing in Ethiopia's election:
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The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition is led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and holds 519 seats in the 547-seat parliament. The coalition toppled the former military regime in 1991 and has held power ever since. They promote ethnic federalism, whereby power is divided along ethnic lines at the national level. The country is already divided into nine states along ethnic and linguistic lines, each with a measure of autonomy.
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The Coalition for Unity and Democracy is the largest opposition bloc and groups four political parties, led by businessman Hailu Shawel. The CUD has fielded 400 candidates and presently has three members in parliament. It fears ethnic federalism will lead to the disintegration of the country. The coalition advocates more power for the central government with emphasis on being an Ethiopian rather than from a particular ethnic group.
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The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces brings together 14 parties and is led by Merara Gudina, a professor of political science at Addis Ababa University. The UEDF has 14 representatives in parliament and has 240 candidates running in Sunday's election. The UEDF wants to establish a transitional government of consensus to bring together all political factions, including armed rebel groups opposed to the current government. Then they will draw up policies for the country.
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There are an additional 30 political parties running in the election, but none has a major national presence.

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's opposition accused the government of trying to rig elections due on Sunday, saying they would reject the results unless the ruling party stopped harassing and detaining its supporters.

Opposition leaders, speaking at a joint news conference late on Saturday, detailed a litany of beatings, intimidation and killings they said had been carried out by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

The government denied the allegations.

About 26 million people are registered to vote in the parliamentary elections, which are widely expected to hand the EPRDF a third five-year term.

But its parliamentary majority is expected to come under pressure from opposition candidates, mounting their strongest challenge yet ...

WASHINGTON DC – Candidates of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) have pulled out of the May 15 elections from Tigrai regional capital Mekelle amid mounting government threats. Off to southern Ethiopia, cadres loyal to the government cut off electricity to a Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) rally in Awassa town. Government forces have cracked down on supporters of the opposition Oromo National Congress (ONC) in Ambo town under the pretext of “rounding up hooligans” ahead of elections. ONC accuses the Meles regime of spreading “terrorist” activities in many areas, according to Voice of America May 13, 2005 Amharic Program. Listen to VOA RADIO. However, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi downplayed the "terrorist activities" of his loyal cadres as "minor incidents" ...

The Oromo Students are high on the agenda of Meles´s genocide policy perpetrated against the Oromo. The government encountered several peaceful student demonstrations with brutal shootings, mass arrests, torture, expulsion from academic institutes etc. The following barbaric performances of Meles Zenawi´s regime are a few we mention with respect to Oromo students ...

It wasn’t the remembrance of Ethiopian rebel leader Jettane Ali, killed by an assassin’s bullet in a restaurant in Nairobi in 1992, that darkened the mood around his grave at Marsabit.

The 36 Ethiopian refugees from the disputed territory of Oromia in southern Ethiopia who gathered in the oasis in northern Kenya to pay their respects ahead of this Sunday’s parliamentary poll were convinced that the election would yield victory for Ethiopia’s ruling People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ...

Seeking a third term in office, Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi will be reflecting on the fact that he's now been in power as long as the man he helped to overthrow - Col Mengistu Haile Mariam.

In May 1991, the rebels of Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) swept down from the Tigrayan highlands and entered Addis Ababa, as Col Mengistu's demoralised dictatorship collapsed ...

Washington - The United States has begun to store food supplies in Ethiopia to deal with a potential famine situation there, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

"We would not like to get into a crisis situation, and though we don't know for certain there will be, there is certainly something looming," Rice said.

She spoke at a hearing of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

Rice suggested Ethiopian authorities have been somewhat complacent about the situation ...

ADDIS ABABA, May 12 (AFP) -- With Ethiopia's weekend general election fast approaching, hundreds of government and opposition backers took to the streets of the capital on Thursday to urge a peaceful vote as plans for a polling day truce between the main rival parties hit a snag.

The hitch in peace pact emerged as the most-high profile of the some 300 international monitors invited to observe the hotly contested vote, former US president Jimmy Carter, was due to arrive here and begin work on Friday ...

As five political parties complain about government intimidation, the incumbent prime minister compares the opposition with Rwandan militias.

(Angus Reid Global Scan) Jonathan Cooper – This Sunday, Ethiopia will hold elections for its House of People’s Representatives, the lower of the country’s two federal legislative bodies. This is the third democratic election since the fall of Mengistu Haile Marian’s repressive Marxist dictatorship in 1991. The run-up to this year’s contest has been eventful, as both indigenous and international entities have accused prime minister Meles Zenawi and his governing Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of acts of intimidation and political malfeasance ...

Ethiopia - Far from the hustle and bustle of Addis Ababa where frenetic campaigning for Sunday's hotly contested general elections is in full swing, politics is a luxury in which few can afford to indulge.

Beset by drought, floods, chronic food shortages and disease, Ethiopia's impoverished rural peasantry — 85% of the Horn of Africa nation's 70 million population — has little time for electioneering and even less interest in the upcoming polls.

While politicians battle for leadership of the country and the trappings of power, subsistence farmers and herders in the countryside literally fight for survival in one of the world's poorest and least-developed nations ...

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Lacking money, grassroots organisation and a charismatic figurehead, Ethiopia's opposition faces an uphill task in contesting general elections on Sunday.

Sitting in a sparsely-furnished office in Addis Ababa, opposition campaign director Berhanu Nega has the tough task of trying to unseat a dominant ruling party that shot its way to power in 1991 and ended 17 years of brutal Marxist dictatorship ...

Passers-by stopped in the street to give each other the V-for-victory sign which has come to symbolise one of Ethiopia's main opposition parties, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD).

Election fever hit Ethiopia last weekend as hundreds of thousands took to the streets ahead of the country's third multi-party general elections on Sunday...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, May 10, 2005 (AP) -- Systematic political repression in Ethiopia's largest state has kept people there from freely participating in the country's third general election campaign, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

In a report, the rights group calls into question the fairness of the electoral process in one the United States' closest allies in Africa, saying the ruling party has cracked down on political activities in the state of Oromia.

The southern state is home to the Oromo people, who make up 32 percent of Ethiopia's 73 million people, and it has been the center of dissent against the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front ...

(Nairobi, May 10, 2005) - As parliamentary elections approach, the Ethiopian authorities have established new institutions that suppress speech and political activity in the country's most populous region, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. At the same time, officials have continued to detain and harass perceived political opponents. The 44-page report, "Suppressing Dissent: Human Rights Abuses and Political Repression in Ethiopia's Oromia Region," documents how regional authorities and security forces have used exaggerated concerns about armed insurgency and "terrorism" to justify the torture, imprisonment and sustained harassment of their critics and even ordinary citizens in the central region of Oromia. The ethnic-based party that controls the region, the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization, holds the largest share of parliamentary seats within the four-party coalition that has ruled Ethiopia since 1991 ...

ADDIS ABABA - Repression and rights abuses by the Ethiopian government make voting in this week's national elections a "hollow exercise" for most people in the country's biggest region, a human rights group said on Tuesday.

The May 15 contest, only Ethiopia's second real multi-party elections, are seen as a test of its progress toward democracy after centuries of feudalism and decades of authoritarian rule ...

But in a case study of the Oromia region, home to a third of Ethiopia's population of 71 million and an active separatist movement, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said local authorities had consistently harassed, beaten and detained people they believed opposed the government.

"Since 1992, regional authorities in Oromia have cultivated a climate of fear and repression by using state power to punish political dissent in often brutal fashion," the group said in a report published before Sunday's elections ...