By Staff Reporter
May 2, 2020 (Ezega.com) -- The Oromo activist and Director General of the Oromo Media Network (OMN) Jawar Mohammed has called for the establishment of a transitional government in Ethiopia as a way out of political crisis the country might face due to deferring the next general elections.
The Ethiopian Parliament postponed the general elections as proposed by the Ethiopian Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) which claimed its pre-election activities were suspended due to the restrictions posed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This week, the government proposed four alternatives to overcome the “legitimacy crisis” it might face on failing to conduct the elections next August.
The first was to implement Article 60 of the constitution which gives the Prime Minister a right to dissolve the parliament.
The second alternative was to extend the state of emergency that has been declared weeks ago.
The third alternative is a constitutional amendment and the fourth is asking the House of Federation for an interpretation on the matter.
“All four alternatives do not work and lack legal ground. There should be a political solution and the anticipated constitutional crisis can be averted through negotiations and consensus of political parties,” Jawar told local media.
The Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), and some activists in the Tigray region claimed the 6th general elections should be conducted with the necessary precaution against the evolving coronavirus infections.
According to Jawar, the political solutions range from establishing a transitional government and other political options.
“The four alternatives are neither constitutional nor convincing and hence the legitimacy of the government will end up next October,” he added.
Competing political parties are demanding TPLF conduct the elections alone. Some politicians claimed the Tigray regional government, which is increasingly detached from the federal government, is not constitutionally mandated to hold the elections as an independent nation.
It is not clear if the TPLF is considering holding the elections by itself or becoming more autonomous due to the postponement of the elections.
In a recent interview with Tigray Media House, Major General Teklebirhan Woldearegay who was one of the high-level officials of TPLF within the Federal government and former Director of Information Network Security Agency said TPLF struggled to liberate Tigray, not Ethiopia. This view is contrary to the long-held beliefs of many Tigrayans, as well as the TPLF itself. In fact, a few years ago, none of these individuals were talking about Tigrayan independence. For so long, Addis Ababa was their preferred home, not Mekelle.
Since it lost the upper hand in Addis Ababa, the TPLF has been working to strengthen its base in Tigray. According to some observers, the organization is becoming increasingly militaristic and intolerant of alternate views inside Tigray. Whether it will succeed in cementing its power while still dependent on the federal government and surrounded by hostile forces remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia has reported no new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) out of 2,016 laboratory tests conducted over the past 24 hours.
The country also discharged three more COVID-19 patients, bringing the total number of recoveries to 69.
Ethiopia’s confirmed cases currently stand at 133 with an overall test count of 19, 857.
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