Power Politics

This article looks at the role of the main opposition party in Ethiopia, Kinijit, during the parliamentary elections of 2005. It shows that the election was unique in that it galvanized the people of Ethiopia to come out and vote en masse. Kinijit was mainly instrumental in mobilizing the people and provided hope for a political change towards democracy. They saw in Kinijit the capacity to lead the country as opposed to the ruling party, trusted it fully and were determined to follow its leadership. The voter turn-out was the highest in the history of the country. Kinijit won the elections but the ruling party rigged the results and declared itself the winner. Controversy arose and dragged on for months. Kinijit then resorted to a protest movement in the form of civil disobedience. The government took this as ‘unconstitutional and as preparation for armed rebellion’ and began a clamp-down. The entire leadership of Kinijit was imprisoned, and some 400 people were massacred as they demonstrated. Close to 17,000 others were thrown in jail and labor camps. This article examines the flaws in Kinijit's decision to resort to civil disobedience, looks at the consequences of the election for the process of democratization and at what that means in the fight against poverty and under-development. It singles out Kinijit's structural problems, such as insufficient institutional preparedness and lack of organizational structure in 2005, and suggests the strategic political course it should have taken.