Election card, Ethiopia, May 2010. Creative commons licensed by sugarmelon.com on Flickr.
The European Union Election Observation Mission released its final report (PDF) on the May 2010 Ethiopian elections for the House of People’s Representatives and State Council.
The mission concluded that the electoral process “fell short of international commitments for elections regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties.”
It added that the ruling party’s presence throughout the country was unrivaled by opposition parties, especially in rural areas. State-owned media did not provide a balanced coverage in its programming. In 27 percent of cases observed, polling station results were different than those previously recorded by observers at polling stations.
