Ethiopian legislative polls fell short of world standards: EU

Ethiopian legislative elections that were held last year, sparking violence that resulted in the death of at least 84 people, fell short of international standards, the European Union (EU) said on Wednesday.

In a report critical of the May 15 elections, which were won by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling party, the European Union said the whole exercise fell short of required democratic standards as the post-election period was largely marked by a rapid deterioration of human rights.

"While the pre-election period saw a number of positive developments and voting on 15 May was conducted in a peaceful and largely orderly manner, the counting and aggregation processes were marred by irregular practices, confusion and a lack of transparency," the report said.

"The human rights situation rapidly deteriorated in the post-election day period when dozens of citizens were killed by the police and thousands were arrested... Overall, therefore, the elections fell short of international principles for genuine democratic elections," according to the report.

The EU reported a range of electoral offences that included harassment of opposition politicians, lack of transparency in the exercise and massive irregularities in vote counting and tallying in several polling stations across the country.

After the polls, the opposition claimed the they were stolen by Meles' ruling party and staged protests against the alleged fraud in June and November that erupted into street violence in which 84 people were killed, many by police.

The government responded with an heavy-handed crackdown, accusing the main Coalition of Unity and Democracy (CUD) party of inciting violence in a bid to overthrow the government.

It arrested thousands of people although many were later freed. But nearly the entire leadership of CUD and about 20 journalists have been detained and charged with capital offences ranging from treason and genocide, which carry a maximum sentence of death if convicted.

The government's handling of the entire post-election period, particularly its use of deadly force to quell the demonstrations, mass arrests and refusal to engage the opposition, have raised international concerns.

The elections were the country's third since Meles came to power in 1991, its second since the advent of multi-party politics and the first that was held under international scrutiny.