Merga Bekana, Ethiopia Electoral Board Chairman, on Tuesday in Addis Ababa, declared the final electoral results, as the ruling party swept all, but one seat in the election.
He said the final results to the 547-seat parliament held in May, showed that the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), won the elections.
Bekana said at a news conference that the opposition secured just one seat in the last parliament, after winning an unprecedented 147 seats in the 2005 election.
He said the opposition did not take up their seats after that vote, saying the poll was rigged.
Merga said the election was coordinated in a free, fair, peaceful, credible and democratic manner.
He said the turnout was 93.2 per cent of the 36.8 million registered voters out of Ethiopia’s 96 million populations.
Meanwhile, opposition groups such as the Medrek coalition and Semayawi party said earlier that they would reject the results, citing harassment and abuse of their candidates.
The opposition complained of various abuses, stating that voting for the last seat, was delayed after clashes between backers of an independent and those supporting the candidate of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
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