Ethiopia: Parties agree on 2010 elections rules

Ethiopia’s ruling party and the main opposition groups in parliament agreed to an electoral code for next year’s polls, an opposition official told AFP. The code sets out campaigning, voting and party symbol guidelines as well as how to deal with violence and abuse of office and corruption. Ayalew Chamiso, head of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD) said “the agreement was reached on consensus by all participants after two months of negotiations.” Ethiopia’s last elections in 2005 ended in chaos, with nearly 200 people killed during a crackdown on opposition protesters, who accused Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s party of rigging the vote. The provisional election date is set for May 23, 2010.