NAIROBI, Kenya—Ethiopians went to the polls Sunday for
the country's first national election since the death of longtime
ruler Meles Zenawi, a vote the ruling party was expected to win
overwhelmingly following what rights groups call years of
suppression of political opposition.
The controversy over the poll underscores the struggle Western
nations have with Ethiopia—praised for its economic
progress and security but criticized roundly for seizing lands from
farmers, jailing journalists and silencing opposition parties.
"There's no desire from the outside world to destabilize this
regime," said Richard Dowden, the director of Britain's Royal
African Society. "It's not giving us any trouble; it's a good
destination for investment."
Ethiopia is seen as a good place to do business because
corruption is generally low and the country's state-controlled
industries are stable. Big private-equity firms like New York-based
KKR & Co. and Blackstone Group are investing in the
country.
Voting appeared to go forward smoothly on Sunday, though at
least one opposition leader charged that some of its members had
been beaten up and that some polling stations opened with
already-full ballot boxes.
"When they went to the polling station this morning, they saw
that the boxes were already filled up with marked papers," said
Beyene Petros, the chairman of an opposition coalition called
Medrek. Election board spokesman Demissew Benti said he had no
reports of any problems with the voting. Asked directly about the
allegation of the opposition leader he said: "It is not true."
Results aren't expected for at least two days.
The ruling party—the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front or EPRDF—has been in power since 1991.
While the last vote in 2010 was peaceful and went almost entirely
to the ruling party, that came after a poll in 2005 in which a
strong opposition took a significant number of seats and charged
that vote-rigging kept them from gaining even more. Violence broke
out and some 200 people were killed.
Rights groups say that the government has gone on a systematic
campaign to weaken the opposition since then—making it
harder for opposition parties to register, or jailing key actors.
Journalists have also been imprisoned for allegedly fomenting
violence.
"The government has clamped down on all forms of legitimate
dissent," said Muthoni Wanyeki, who oversees East Africa for
Amnesty International.
Government officials have said that they have only banned
political parties that have broken rules and that they have only
jailed people who have posed a security threat to the country.
The question going forward is whether the current stability will
continue despite increasing criticism of the government's approach
to the opposition and a growing young population without many
opportunities.
"It's a creeping unrest," said Ahmed Salim, a Dubai-based East
Africa analyst with Teneo Intelligence. He said a lot will depend
on how much the government is willing to loosen up its control of
industries and whether the country's growth in gross domestic
product ends up translating into more jobs.
"The government has enticed a lot of young Ethiopians to come
back into the country for jobs that don't exist," Mr. Salim
said.
In the last election in 2010 the ruling party won all but two of
the legislature's 547 seats. Analysts expect the ruling party to
win only about 90% of the seats in Sunday's vote, with the rest
going to parties that are friendly to the government. The
legislature selects the prime minister, who is the head of the
government. The current prime minister is Hailemariam Desalegn, who
took over the post after Mr. Meles died in 2012.
The only international observers watching the election are from
the African Union after Ethiopia declined to invite the European
Union, which monitored the 2010 vote. The EU said in a statement
that it also wasn't convinced of the value of sending a team given
that previous reports were rejected.
Rana Nour, a doctor who voted Sunday morning in the capital city
of Addis Ababa, said she supported the ruling party because of the
economic progress she has seen. The Ethiopian government has
undertaken major infrastructure projects in recent years, including
a light-rail system being built in the capital and a giant dam to
increase electricity in the country.
Ms. Nour said that some people felt that they had limited
options, but she said she believed the country was moving in the
right direction.
"What really is a 100% democracy?" she said. "We are a country
trying to install the culture of voting and we are developing our
democracy."
Marthe van der Wolf in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to
this article.
Write to Heidi Vogt at heidi.vogt@wsj.com
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