Oromo People's Congress

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The Oromo People's Congress (abbreviated OPC ; Oromo : KUO; Amharic የኦሮሞ ብሔራዊ ኮንግረንስ Yä-Oromo Biherawi Kongränəs ; until 2001 Oromo National Congress ONC, German  Oromo National Congress ) is a political party in Ethiopia .

It is one of the largest political parties in the country. The OPC was founded in April 1996 under the name Oromo National Congress by Merera Gudina . This is also the party chairman.

Election results

Until the national Ethiopian parliamentary elections in May 2005, the Oromo National Congress had no plans to build a voter base outside of the home region of party leader Merera Gudina - the woreda Ambo in Oromia . In this election, when the party was still a member of the UEDF alliance under its own name (which also won 52 of the 527 seats in the People's House of Representatives ), the party alone won 42 seats in the federal parliament and 135 seats in the regional parliament of Oromia.

Nevertheless, the party registration was allegedly granted to a marginal splinter group by the National Electoral Commission of Ethiopia. The OPC accused the electoral commission of trying to cause confusion among voters and undermine the party in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in May 2005. The party was thus urged to change its name to Oromo People's Congress before the elections .

Current policy

The OPC leadership was one of the most influential founding members of the Forum for Democratic Dialogue (Medrek). The establishment of this forum was agreed on June 17, 2007.

In January 2009, the OPC entered into a political coalition with the Federal Democratic Movement of the Oromo . A joint press release was issued by both parties.

In a press release on March 5, 2009, the OPC lamented the harassment of its members by the ruling Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples (EPRDF). The EPRDF used three different forms of harassment during the previous weeks: In February of the same year, two teachers in the woreda Midakaegn were reportedly severely beaten by the local police and even by politicians from the woreda . In addition, on March 4, security personnel reportedly circled a secondary school in Gedo , shot at the students and wounded at least three of them, one of whom later died in hospital.

Web links

See also

supporting documents

  1. ↑ National Electoral Authority of Ethiopia : Party symbols and logos, Amharic version . Retrieved May 4, 2010.
  2. ^ OPC: Political Program of the Oromo People's Congress (OPC) ( Memento from October 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ "Ethiopia: Repression Sets Stage for Non-Competitive Elections" , English language website by Human Rights Watch (last accessed March 17, 2009)
  4. ^ National Electoral Board of Ethiopia - Election results - Provisional Results of the 4th Round General Election to REGIONAL STATE COUNCILS
  5. ↑ Lovise Aalen and Kjetil Tronvoll, "The 2008 Ethiopian local elections: The return of electoral authoritarianism" ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 68 kB), African Affairs , 108/430, page 114 (last accessed on March 17, 2009) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ethiomedia.com
  6. ^ "Forum for Democratic Dialogue: New collection or coalition? ( Memento of January 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Capital Ethiopia's website
  7. ↑ According to a press release issued by both parties: Oromia: OFDM and OPC to merge ( Memento of May 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Oromo News Blog December 3, 2008
  8. ^ "EPRDF is still shooting to rule ( Memento from February 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ), English language website of the OPC