Term Paper on "What Is Election?"

Quoted Instructions for "What Is Election?" Assignment:

Write a definition essay on the topic 'Election'. Here summerise the election heled in Ethiopia last year and point out the areas of the election process that goes with the recogonized definition of the word 'Election'.

In so doing you can use description/ or narrative pattern of writing on the aspect of the word's meaning and the area which is forgotten or ignored in the past election process held in Ethiopia. Provide examples from the incidents that happened in the poll, the peoples reaction and the opposition parties reaction towards the results of the poll analyze if it can add a new meaning to the word (election) at all.

Use a comparison/ contrast strategy to arrive at your own unique definition of the term by contrasting it with other possibilites. Here describe the recent election campaign of the Democrats and Republicans in the US. Then compare the Democrat's victory to the majority seats in the congress, the poeples and Republican's reaction towards the poll's result (how smooth it was) with that of the Ehiopian election result. Here compare and contrast the ruling parties(EPRDF) reaction to the tally and the opposition parties(CUD) and (UEDF)'s reaction and the peopl's responce to the whole election process ( including the number of lives claimed in the protests) with that of the US recent election. IS Election dangerous life threatining incident everywhere?

Summerize the essay generalizing the fact that the meaning word election may have depending on the very way it is practiced. (As it may be perceived differently by an Ethiopian who witnessed the past election fraud in Ethiopia and by an American who saw the recent election in the US.

References: You will find a detailed coverage of the Election process in Ethipia in the May-November 2005 BBC News World (Africa)coverages.You can also made use of the following passage to brief you with the facts about the election in Ethiopia. ( This is a cut and paste copy of News coverages from different news agencies so if you decide to use them make sure you paraphrase it)

Election

An election is a process in which a vote is held to choose amongst candidates to fill an office, or amongst political parties offering a slate of potential office holders for a house of representatives. It is the most used mechanism by which a democracy fills offices in the legislature, and sometimes in the executive, judiciary, regional or local government. Elections are held in many other settings from clubs and societies to business.

Ethiopia Election Fraud

Ethiopia held general elections on May 15, 2005, for seats in both its national and in four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic nation; international elections observers from the European Union and the U.S.-based Carter Center were present to observe the results. This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period. (Sudan Tribune 45)

Early results showed the opposition with a big lead, sweeping all of the contested seats in the capital Addis both in the race for parliamentary as well as local government. By the afternoon of the 16th of May, the opposition was halfway towards winning a majority in the national parliament with only about a third of the constituencies reporting complete results. Late on May 16, trailing badly in the preliminary report covering just under 200 seats released by the National Election Board, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) announced that it had won more than 300 seats, while conceding that opposition parties won all 23 seats in the capital city Addis Ababa. The two major opposition parties, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) claimed on that same day that they had won 185 of the approximately 200 seats for which the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) had released preliminary results. That was a significant improvement over the 12 seats the opposition had in the previous parliament. (Ethiopia row over 'Election')

By law, the NEBE was required to announce the official results on June 8. However, the vote tallying process was jeopardized when, during the evening of May 16, the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency, outlawed any public gathering, assumed direct command of the security forces, and replaced the capital city police with federal police and special forces drawn from elite army units. The NEBE, simultaneously, ordered the vote tallying process to stop, an order which was not rescinded for nearly a week, yet another action against which the opposition and the independent election monitors strongly objected.

The next official report from the NEBE, released on May 27, showed that the EPRDF had won 209 seats, and affiliated parties 12 more. The report indicated the opposition parties had won 142 seats. "These results are provisional, and these results could change because we are looking into complaints by some of the parties," said NEBE spokesman Getahun Amogne.

The CUD lodged complaints in 139 constituencies, the UEDF lodged 89 complaints, while the EPRDF has raised concerns over irregularities in more than 50 seats. Including the complaints lodged by small parties, complaints concerning the results in 299 parliamentary seats were lodged. According to an official of the NEBE, political parties had until June 3 to provide evidence of fraud, or their complaints would be dismissed. However, investigations led to elections being re-run at a minimum of 16 voting stations, and affecting elections for at least six seats.

Provisional results were scheduled to be released on May 23, but the need to investigate claims of voting irregularities and disruptions in two southern regions â€***** Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region and Oromia â€***** have pushed the release of these results back to June 8, the date originally scheduled for releasing the official results. While the ruling party has unofficially been reported the winner of the election, demonstrations were held protesting alleged election fraud. Demonstrations continued into June 2005, as hundreds of students were arrested for demonstrating in spite of a month-old ban on protests imposed on the government. On June 8, police shot 42 people gathering at the Piazza and Merkato markets of Addis Ababa. (Ethiopia row over Election)

The government afterwards stated that an appropriate level of force was used and accused the CUD of fomenting dissent; the CUD denied these accusations, and claimed that the government was attempting to distract attention from election fraud. This led to the leaders of the CUD, including head Hailu Shawul, being put under house arrest while hundreds of security forces patrolled the streets of the capital