Washington DC, May 1, 2010 – Lawyers, teachers and other experts from Europe will observe run-up and vote for Ethiopia’s parliamentary and regional council representatives.

The European Union announced on Tuesday that the first contingent of election monitors arrived in Addis, Ethiopia's Capital, on Saturday and will soon be deployed to election sites in Addis Ababa and other places in the nation.

The monitors on the European Union Election Observation Mission are identified as long-term monitors and will be joined later by another group of 60 short-term monitors who will arrive in time to observe the May 23 national elections.

More than 30 million Ethiopians have registered for the election, according to the National Election Board of Ethiopia. Voters will choose among candidates for 547 seats on the federal parliament and for candidates for regional councils throughout the nation.

The long-term observers are expected to talk with regional election officials, representatives of political parties and civic organizations and the general public. They will observe the process of election preparations and listen to complaints.

In other election news, Tsehaye Woldegiorgis, a Unity for Democracy and Justice candidate for parliament for Sodo Wollaita, told Amharic stringer Meleskachew Amha that UDJ candidates for office are experiencing great difficulty in their campaign efforts because local supporters of the ruling EPRDF forced UDJ’s landlord to shut their office.

In response to the charge, the election board coordinator for the zone, Aynalem Amuye, said “the party never opened an office in the locality. ”Aynalem did acknowledge some harassment of opposition candidates and their supporters because Ethiopia is just beginning to learn how to behave in a democratic election process.

Source: VOANews

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