AU observers declare Ethiopian poll credible

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s parliamentary polls held on Monday, were conducted in a “credible” manner, the AU’s election observer mission said yesterday.

“Overall the election and election day processes were conducted in an orderly, peaceful and credible manner,” former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, the head of the mission of 100 observers, told a news conference in Addis Ababa.

The election in the country of 109 million people has been billed by the government as the first free vote in the country’s history.

But it has been marred by an opposition boycott, war and reports of irregularities in some areas.