Ethiopia opposition alleges intimidation at polls
Reuters - April 13, 2008

Ethiopia's opposition accused the government of intimidation on Sunday as voters went to the polls for the first time since deadly post-election protests three years ago.

State radio said voters lined up peacefully from dawn to cast ballots. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's government is expecting a big win, having fielded 4 million candidates for some 3.8 million local council and parliamentary seats on offer.

All Ethiopia's 32 opposition parties combined managed only to put forward a few thousand hopefuls.

Bulcha Demeksa, leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), said most of his party's candidates had been threatened and forced to pull out of the race.

"We could only run 2 percent of the 6,000 candidates we wanted to," he said. "And there is a very low turnout today, there is no interest. This is very far from democracy." Read More.