Political Parties Committed to Peaceful, Democratic Election

Addis Ababa June 10/2021 (ENA) Political parties have expressed their commitment to peaceful conduct of the upcoming 6th General Election.

The parties said peace and stability need to be given special focus by all concerned bodies during election.

Enat Party Deputy President, Seifeselasse Ayalew told ENA that all contending political parties should play key role in making the election peaceful by ensuring peace and stability, though this is mainly the responsibility of the government.

The upcoming election should not be like the previous ones, he noted, adding that it should be peaceful and democratic.

The deputy president said, “We should show to the world that Ethiopia can conduct a peaceful election. I believe this is our chance to correct the history of election in the country. But this cannot be left to the government or the ruling party alone. We, the political parties, have a great responsibility in this regard as we have very big number of followers across the country. So we have to make this power stand for peace.”

According to him, the first thing that political parties can do for peaceful election is acting responsibly for the country and the people.

Seifeselasse said his political party has started peaceful political activity and always teaches candidates and followers to work for peace.

Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice Communication Affairs Head,  Zelalem Work-Agegnehu said his party believes that maintaining peace and stability during election period is not the responsibility of the government but also the responsibility of political parties.

The party had prepared code of conduct for its leaders, candidates and followers to force them make their activities peaceful.

“We dispatched about 40,000 copies of our code of conduct to all our branches in the country and we have also given training on the code of conduct. So this code  compels us to act accordingly and to commit for peaceful election.”

Political parties should act according to the law to ensure peaceful and democratic election in the country, he further noted.

Hidase Secretary-General, Surafel Eshetu said the first thing that his party has been doing is telling the people that the National Electoral Board is neutral and independent.

“The upcoming election is totally different from the previous ones, because we have an independent and neutral electoral board that we rely on. Thus we tell the people throughout  our campaign to believe in the Board. If the people believe in the Board they can accept the results and this would be the easy way to minimize conflicts during and after the election,” he elaborated. .

His party is even giving training for about 60 candidates in Bishoftu city on their role for peaceful election, according to Surafel.

The 6^th General Election will be conducted after 10 days.