The EPRDF continues to dominate the political landscape, while the legal opposition is on the defensive driven
by internal conflict and suffering from the absence of a clear vision and strategy on how to effectively confront the
ruling party. While the government has toughened its stand on its dealings with the legal opposition, the run-up to
the local, district and by-elections for the Addis Ababa Council and the parliament scheduled for next year already
has began amid vociferous complaints by the opposition of unfair treatment. Internal and external actors had put
pressure on the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) and on the government to reform the electoral law as a
precondition for fair elections in the future, but it seems that yet again the electoral process will only exacerbate
the conflicts between the government and its political opponents.
The internal split of CUD representatives in national parliament continued to fester with the leadership of both
factions resorting to the courts to win official recognition as the leadership of the party. Long-simmering conflicts
among the released CUD leaders openly erupted during their long tour abroad in North America and Europe. The
released leaders not only failed to resolve differences between the two wings of the external leadership but
became fractured into two bitterly opposed factions each aligned with one of the external factions. One faction is
led by Hailu Shawl, chairman of the CUD, and the other by CUD’s Vice-President Birtukan Mideksa and Berhanu
Nega. Underlying this split are personality issues but also different concepts on how to lead and to reunify the
CUD. The splits within the CUD "family," the political mud-slinging, and the whiff of a financial scandal deeply
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