Coalition for Unity and Democracy
The Coalition for Unity and Democracy ( Amharic ቅንጅት ለአንድነት እና ዴሞክራሲ , known nationwide by the acronym Qinijit or Kinijit ; English Coalition for Unity and Democracy Parties , abbreviated CUD or CUDP ) is the most important opposition party alliance and the former largest party coalition in Ethiopia . The alliance consists of four parties who jointly organized their campaign for the parliamentary elections on May 15, 2005.
The chairman is Hailu Shawul . The four member parties are the Ethiopian Democratic League , the All-Ethiopian Unity Organization , the United Ethiopian Democratic Party - Medhin and Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice .
At the end of September 2005, the alliance announced that it would join forces to form a political party, the Unity for Democracy and Justice . After the collapse of the CUD through co-option, arrest and emigration or internal rifts, a new alliance of six opposition parties is currently forming in the Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia , to which the newly established unit for democracy and justice belongs as well as the second largest unit represented in parliament Opposition coalition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces .
Positions and supporters
The CUD is dominated by Amharen and attaches great importance to the unity of Ethiopia. She criticizes the EPRDF , which has ruled since 1991, for allowing Eritrea's independence in 1993 . Most of their leaders supported the Eritrea-Ethiopia war from 1998-2000 and would like to put pressure on Eritrea regarding the still disputed border areas. The CUD rejects the "ethnic federalism" introduced by the EPRDF (cf. administrative structure of Ethiopia ), as this harms the cohesion of the country. In terms of economic policy, it stands for a more liberal course, so it seems to advocate the privatization of land - which is state-owned.
The overall Ethiopian nationalism of the CUD receives support above all from the Amhars and the Gurage . Research also found that the CUD tended to win more votes in the 2005 elections in urban areas, in more ethnically mixed areas, and in those where the proportion of people living below the poverty line is higher. On the other hand, it fared worse in areas where more people received food aid , as the recipients of such aid were more likely to vote for the EPRDF.
Parliamentary elections
After all loomed in the country, that the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front , the 2005 election , would lose the government stopped the official vote count and declared himself the victor. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took general command of the military and federal police, imposed curfews and banned all demonstrations across the country. Hailu Shawul was placed under house arrest after the government accused the CUD of supporting violent street protests in which more than 20 people were killed by federal police.
According to official results, the CUD won 109 of 545 parliamentary seats, including all 23 seats in the capital Addis Ababa , 50 of 138 seats in the Amhara region , 18 seats in the region of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples , 16 seats in the Oromia region and one seat each by Dire Dawa and Benishangul-Gumuz .
Repression
After the CUD accused the ruling party alliance EPRDF of electoral fraud, on November 6, 2005 it called for a week of strike and a boycott of companies run by EPRDF members and the parliament. In response, the government lifted the immunity of the elected representatives of the opposition alliance and arrested a large part of the members of the CUD faction.
Almost the entire leadership of the CUD, including the elected mayor of Addis Ababa , Berhanu Nega , were sentenced in late 2009 to life imprisonment. Demonstrations that have taken place on every continent and countless petitions have not yet led to the prisoners being released. Amnesty International , Human Rights Watch and other organizations take the view that these CDU politicians are unjustly imprisoned. Nevertheless, on July 16, 2007, the Ethiopian Supreme Court ordered 30 of the democratically elected representatives to be imprisoned for life.
Web links
- Dead after arrest , BBC , June 8, 2005
- Advocacy Ethiopia through Political Prisoners
- On the judgment of July 16, 2007
- On the judgment of July 16, 2007
Footnotes
- ↑ Angela Benidir-Müller: Refugee Report on Ethiopia. (PDF) Swiss Refugee Aid SFH, October 10, 2006, accessed on November 8, 2018 .
- ^ Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung : Country portrait Ethiopia
- ↑ John W. Harbeson: Ethiopia's Extended Transition , in: Journal of Democracy , Vol. 16/4 , October 2005, p. 149
- ↑ a b Leonardo R. Arriola: Ethnicity, Economic Conditions, and Opposition Support: Evidence from Ethiopia's 2005 Elections , in: Northeast African Studies , Vol. 10/1, 2003 (New Series), pp. 115–144 by Leonardo R. Arriola
- ↑ Amnesty International on the detention of opposition politicians on November 7, 2005 ( Memento of the original from December 1, 2006 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.
