Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples

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Basic data
Establishment date: May 1988
Chairman: Abiy Ahmed Ali
Address: PO Box 80007, 13092
Addis Ababa
Website: eprdf.org.et

The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front ( Amharic የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር Yeh-Ityopya Həzbočč Abyotawi Demokrasiyawi Gənbar shortly Ih'adeg ; English Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front , EPRDF , as Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front to German  Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian people , stated) was a coalition of parties that ruled Ethiopia from 1991 to 2019.

It included the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) from the Tigray region , which overthrew Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime in 1991 , and three allied parties in other regions. These three other parties merged to form the Prosperity Party on December 1, 2019 . In the other regions of the country, parties rule that were allied with the EPRDF, but formally do not belong to it.

Political ideologies

The ideology of the individual coalition partners were summarized as a whole democratic-socialist , social-democratic , regionalist and federalist . The alliance emphasized the right of self-determination of the individual peoples in Ethiopia.

The coalition later committed to market orientation. It has initiated political decentralization in the country and the opening to a multi-party democracy. A federal republic was formed from the unitarian, centralized state in the Empire of Abyssinia and under the military regime, in which the regional states have their own parliaments and governments. Despite the decentralization of the state and administrative structures, the EPRDF had basically remained a centralist party.

In the 28 years of its reign, the Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples pursued a policy of so-called industrialization through the leadership of Agricultural Development (ADLI), which is based on the model of the Maoist economic policy of the early years of communist China . At the same time, the government coalition insisted that land and land must remain in state ownership. Despite all commitments to an economic order of the market , private initiative was rather hindered in the administration dominated by the EPRDF.

composition

The EPRFD was an alliance of four parties, the Democratic Organization of the Oromo People (OPDO) in Oromia , the National Democratic Movement of the Amhars (ANDM) in Amhara , the Democratic Front of the South Ethiopian Peoples (SEPDF) in the region of the southern nations, nationalities and Peoples and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

The individual parties, Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples, reported that they had 6.5 million members in 2013 and each also governed their regions.

The EPRDF was headed by a Central Committee and a Politburo , which in turn were elected by the party congresses that meet every three years. The parties followed the same pattern in their organizational structures. The EPRDF member parties had structures at the basic level not only at the local level, but also at the company level. In all large companies and administrations, the party had its organizational units, which ensured that the members pay their income-related monthly fee. In most administrations down to the local level ( Kebeles ), the administrative heads were also the party leaders. State and party structures were - at least until the 2005 election - closely interwoven.

Relationships with other parties

The remaining five regions are governed by parties that were founded by the TPLF / EPRDF and are allied with it. Thus, the TPLF founded in the Afar region , the Democratic Organization of the Afar people (APDO) as its partners among the Afar ,, later it was with other parties to the National Democratic Party of Afar combined ANDP. In the Somali region , the Democratic Party of the Somali People (SPDP) has been the regional partner of the EPRDF since 1998 , in Harar this is the Harari National League , in Gambela the Democratic Movement of the Peoples of Gambellas (GPDM) and in Benishangul-Gumuz the Democratic United Front of the Peoples of Benishangul-Gumuz (BGPDUF).

The EPRDF maintains good contacts with communist parties such as the Chinese Communist Party, but it does not belong to any international party association.

history

The Tigray People's Liberation Front ( TPLF ) was founded in 1975 as an ethnic-regional organization by militant students in Tigray to fight the Derg regime. In 1980 she organized the National Democratic Movement of the Amharen or Ethiopian National Democratic Movement (ANDM or ENDM) from parts of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party . In 1989 the TPLF was able to bring the Tigray region under its control. In the same year, she founded the Oromo People's Democratic Organization ( OPDO ), which has ruled the Oromia region since 1991, from Oromo members of the ENDM and Oromo prisoners of war . In 1994 the Democratic Front of the South Ethiopian Peoples ( SEPDF ) for the region of the southern nations, nationalities and peoples was added. This initially comprised prisoners of war from this region who were prepared by the TPLF / EPRDF to mobilize and govern their ethnic groups.

Until the start of government business in 1991, the EPRDF, founded in 1989 by the TPLF and EPDM, was an alliance of rebel groups that fought against the communist Derg military regime . A little later came the OPDO and the revolutionary movement of the Democratic Ethiopian Officers ( Ethiopian Democratic Officers Revolutionary Movement , EDORM), which was dissolved again after the government took over . With the official establishment of the EPRDF, the TPLF abandoned the goal of independence for the Tigray region in order to take on a leadership role within Ethiopia instead.

The alliance's political program has evolved from a Marxist-Leninist approach to a social democratic approach. The EPRDF reformed the administrative structure of Ethiopia and introduced “ethnic federalism”, which grants the nine ethnically defined states far-reaching rights. Critics of this system believe that it weakens the unity of the country and in fact cemented the control of the TPLF / EPRDF over the country.

At the national level, this party alliance held 472 of the 527 seats in the House of Representatives , the Ethiopian lower house in parliament , after the May 2000 election .

Political development from 2005

The political opponents of the alliance increasingly acted together, and in the 2005 elections they recorded gains that surprised election observers and the opposition candidates themselves. The two main opposition groups were the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (Qinijit) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), each of which was also an alliance of various opposition parties.

The results of the May 15, 2005 elections were not accepted by all competing parties. This disagreement led to an ongoing crisis and civil unrest, in the course of which more than 100 people, including two elected parliamentarians, were killed. The EPRDF claimed 327 of the 547 seats for itself. The opposition, which accused the government of fraud and intimidation, claimed a majority for the two largest opposition alliances. The fraud allegations came after the National Election Board , appointed by the Prime Minister, delayed the publication of the election results for months. This happened after the two opposition alliances had an election victory. When the counting resumed, the EPRDF declared itself the election winner.

Human Rights Watch accused the EPRDF of engaging in extensive repression in the run-up to the 2010 elections in order to prevent the opposition from winning the election. In addition to direct repression, the party used its political control at the Woredas and Kebeles level to deny critics access to state resources and aid programs. The media and civil society would be restricted by stricter laws.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Titz: The Mind Guardian Reaches for Power Spiegel Online, March 28, 2018, accessed on the same day.
  2. ↑ a b EPRDF: In letter  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF), Website of the Revolutionary Front of the Ethiopian Peoples@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.eprdf.org.et  
  3. ↑ a b c Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung : Parties in Ethiopia: Between Ethnic Orientation and Program Orientation (PDF file; 132 kB)
  4. ↑ a b Paulos Chanie: Clientelism and Ethiopia's post-1991 decentralization , in: Journal of Modern African Studies 45/3, 2007
  5. ^ Yasin Mohammed Yasin: Political history of the Afar in Ethiopia and Eritrea. GIGA Institute of African Affairs, in: Afrika Spectrum 42, 2008, pp. 39–65 (PDF file; 237 kB)
  6. ↑ Tobias Hagmann, Mohamud H. Khalif: State and Politics in Ethiopia's Somali Region since 1991 ( Memento of the original dated August 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Bildhaan. An International Journal of Somali Studies 6, 2006, pp. 25–49 (PDF; 121 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / tobiashagmann.freeflux.net
  7. ^ Lovise Aalen: Ethnic Federalism and Self-Determination for Nationalities in a Semi-Authoritarian State: the Case of Ethiopia , in: International Journal on Minority and Group Rights 13, 2006, pp. 243-261
  8. ↑ Walter Michler: Ethiopia: No more hungry land, in: FOCUS No. 35/1995
  9. ↑ Human Rights Watch, “One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure,” March 24, 2010