Ethnic Federalism in a Dominant Party State: The Ethiopian Experience 1991-2000 Lovise Aalen r 2002: 2

The consolidation of a dominant party system
The regional and federal elections in 1995 marked the end of the transitional
period in Ethiopia. It was intended to last only two and a half years, but the
process of drafting and ratifying the constitution extended the period with a
year. As the major parts of the opposition continued its boycott, there was no
competition in the elections. Thus, it was not possible to assess the EPRDF’s
real support in the population despite its sweeping victories. International
observers repeated their conclusions from the previous elections, stating they
where neither free nor fair (Tronvoll and Aadland 1995).
The next elections for the federal and regional assemblies were conducted in
2000. For the first time since the emergence of the EPRDF, none of the legal
and registered opposition parties boycotted the elections. Thus, this election
could actually be seen as the first seriously contested election in Ethiopia’s long
history. Nevertheless, severe violations of the election law and intimidation and
harassment of the opposition were reported, particularly in those areas where
competition was present (Pausewang and Tronvoll 2000). The local elections
conducted in the following year confirmed these negative tendencies, and the
opposition parties withdrew from the process after the first election round.
They claimed that they could not participate when the whole apparatus
organising the elections was fraudulent and clearly in favour of the ruling party
(Pausewang and Aalen 2001)
The political parties in Ethiopia are generally too poor in resources to
organise a significant constituency. They have no firm roots in the past because
of the systematic repression of political parties during previous regimes and the
absence of a civic tradition. Additionally, the EPRDF’s emphasis on ethnic
political organisation prevents viable trans-ethnic parties to emerge. The
majority of the opposition parties today have an ethnic base: the OLF and its
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This high number of votes for the EPRDF has been the trend in all the elections from the first
in 1992 up to the local elections in 2001. It is believed that the number does not reflect the
real opinion of the voters, but should rather be seen as an expression of the ruling party’s
control of and pressure on the electorate (Pausewang and Tronvoll 2000).

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competitor the Oromo National Congress, the AAPO, and the SEPDC,
consisting of several small ethnically based parties in the south. But the Council
of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia (CAFPDE) was the
only non-ethnic party until the elections in 2000. But CAPFDE has a southern
domination and the same leader as the Southern Coalition, Dr Beyene Petros. A
new non-ethnic party, the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), was founded just
before the 2000 elections. Despite its short period of existence, the EDP was
remarkably successful in gaining support in the capital Addis Ababa.
Nevertheless, common factors for all the opposition parties are that none of
them has any influence on the political process and that they are all victims of
government threats and harassment, especially in rural areas.
Since the establishment of the EPRDF in 1989, new parties have been
included in the coalition. The Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Front
(SEPDF), consisting of several ERPDF-affiliated parties in the south of the
country, was created and included in the EPRDF in 1994. In other regions, the
EPRDF has assisted the establishment of several political parties which are not
members of the coalition, but closely affiliated and supervised by the ruling