Opposition Winds Up Against Postponement of Elections

Text by: RFI Follow

Several major opposition parties have condemned the decision taken on Wednesday by the upper house of parliament to postpone the elections and extend the mandate of the government of Abiy Ahmed, until an indefinite date after the end of the Covid virus pandemic. 19. And in the Tigray region, local authorities have decided to ignore federal government announcements.

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These are not insignificant parties who have protested the Prime Minister's scenario of ending the crisis . On the one hand, it is the Oromo Federalist Congress, OFC, the academic Merere Gudina; the Oromo Liberation Front, the OLF, a former historic rebel movement which had participated in the fight against the Mengistu dictatorship; and the Ogaden National Liberation Front, ONLF, an armed group from the Somalia region that has recently entered political life.

Thursday all three denounced the "  unilateral decision  " of the head of government. The ONLF calls for dialogue and is concerned about the danger of a "  mass uprising which could lead to violence  ". The famous opponent Jawar Mohammed , member of the OFC, meanwhile denounced a maneuver solely intended, according to him, to "  stay in power as long as possible  ".

In the Tigray region, the regional executive has also expressed its disagreement with Addis Ababa. The Tigrayan party had warned: elections were announced in the province before September 11. If necessary, says the Executive Council of Tigray, without the support of the national electoral commission.

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• Ethiopia

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