My motto: Exclusion ends in violence. Inclusion ends in justified election.

Summary of Part One to Part Nine.

I mentioned about the resolution of the 14 session of the national council of Eritrea, and the ratification of the electoral law. The assignment of the respected tegadalig Romedan Mohammed Nur as chair person of the election commission. I stressed about the exclusionary method used both by the Eritrean government and the opposition groups.

The banning of multi party election for the time being and the projection of elections of individuals to the Eritrean parliament was mentioned. Based on this announcement of elections of individuals by the Eritrean government I recalled the proposal of Mr. Hirue Tedla (now general secretary of Alliances) about elections of individuals starting from Adi and progressing towards national election. His proposal finds in asmarino.com "DEMOCRACY IN ERITREA: A PROGRAMMATIC PROPOSAL By Herui T. Bairu, STOCKHOLM August 8, 2000" .

Actually, the Eritrean government is implying this proposal and local elections did accomplished in southern and central regions of Eritrea. This time local elections are underway in some regions as well. The irony here is, Mr. Hirue Tedla, neither acknowledged, that his proposal is implied nor he revises what his proposal was meant in the first place, he is busy to topple a government. At that time, I appreciated his proposal and I was hoping that he genuinely to work with the Eritrean government for its implementation.

In part two, I tried to go through some points mentioned by Mr. Hirue Tedla in the above mentioned article of proposal. He mentioned the dominance of PFDJ in Eritrean politics and the failure of the Eritrean government of not implying the constitution. I commented based on his article that, the original vision of PFDJ was an all inclusive method, but on practice it turned down to be exclusionary. I mentioned about the obstacles some individuals from the opposition forces will face if they agreed to participate as individuals in the coming election.

Part Three.

The following quotation was introduced from "Perverting Elections".

"It shall be unlawful for a foreign national directly or through any other person to make any contribution of money or other thing of value, or to promise expressly or impliedly to make any such contribution, in connection with an election to any political office or in connection with any primary election. Title 2, United States Code Amended (USCA), Section 441e(a)" End of quotation.

I said the following, " Mr. Hirue Tedla is one of the intelligent intellectuals Eritrea have. I put aside for the gold medal he has in the race of confusing matters. What I am going to be interested is; not on his personality and I swear, I will never be his follower, but no matter with the mess he creates, I am going to extract, the valuable ideas and intelligence of him. To make use best out of it, to the purpose of use in Eritrean politics. That is my principal aim. Therefore, in the above document proposed by him there are important information that we can make use of it."

I mentioned that, the basics for constructing healthy atmosphere in Eritrea political arena are, as three stages. And those are. First inclusion method. Second, reconciliation and finally, multi-parties politics. This time, the chair person of ELF-RC, Mr. Seyoum Ogbamichael, is proposing an all inclusive national conference for reconciliation. The most important point, that I give him credit is the recognition of an all inclusive method. That is the first and most crucial step towards full happiness in Eritrea. The rest is, to tell that, Mr. Seyoum to be genuine enough to acknowledge the acceptance of the existing government as the legitimate governing body and to work together to materialize his proposal. This is what I would like to tell to Mr. Seyoum frankly. It is good to come with golden proposals, but as long as there is anarchy it is worthless even to consider it. First, ELF-RC has to acknowledge that it is low abiding organization by accepting the legitimacy of the existing government. Saying so, I would like to encourage Mr. Seyoum to continue the right highway he is in now, the inclusion method. It is going to be a matter of time, but I guarantee you the only success is by inclusion method.

I mentioned about the litmus test, for both, the Eritrean government and the opposition groups. The litmus test is, whether the Eritrean government is using, inclusion method, and be the true guardian of the Eritrean people or using the exclusionary method and be selfish and power sick body. For the opposition groups, the litmus test is, whether they to be genuine opposition forces by working including the existing government or be selfish and worthless opposition groups using exclusionary method.

I mentioned about the charge of treason raised, after election, in Zimbabwe by Mr. Mugabe against his contender in the past election, Mr. Tsvangeri. I said that, if, both, Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangari had used inclusion method all the troubles surfaced during the election would have been minimized. Unfortunately, by using exclusion method the Zimbabweans trapped in political turmoil.

Unlike the Zimbabweans the Zambians became a successful model for Africans in stabilizing and creating conducive condition for political pluralism. I mentioned that, we Eritreans have to learn from the success of sister country Zambia. I said that we have to avoid situations that lead to raising charges of treason, the other round, either by the winner or the loser in elections. The most important point is to be able to create security of livelihood for all.

Eritrean Civil Society

In part five I said "My sympathy and support goes to the Eritrean government. It is pity that the Eritrean government has become a victim of PFDJ dictation. The lean and prop between the Eritrean government and PFDJ is conditional. For one hand, the fall of the Eritrean government to the dictation of PFDJ stems from the fact that the opposition groups are hostile and not contributing to the existence of the Eritrean government to stand by its feet. For the other hand, the dependencies of PFDJ to the Eritrean government accounts to the fact that the insecurity created by the opposition groups to the livelihood of the elite's of PFDJ. The conclusion that can be deducted to the acceptance of the very reality of the coexistence of the Eritrean government and PFDJ as two faces of one coin is the hostility and harassment of the opposition groups towards to the very existence of these two institutions. Accepting the difficult situation, that the Eritrean government is facing both from the harassment of the opposition groups and the dictation of PFDJ, it is natural for me to give my sympathy and support to the Eritrean government to free itself from PFDJ dictation in one hand and normalize the harassment of the opposition groups on the other hand. In my opinion, the Eritrean g government needs time and space to act as real government without PFDJ dictation and the opposition groups harassment."

I said about the Eritrean civil society emergence and the roll it plays in democratization and development of Eritrea as follows. "From the beginning, it has to be known that, the success of rapid growth of civil society in Eritrea depends on voluntarily participation of interested groups in propagating civic education among the Eritrean society. It has to be known as well, the rapid growth of civil society is always helpful to a government to realize its projects of development. The most hostile for the growth of civil society are political groups. The reason is: with the growth of civil society their propaganda has to be robust and complex which most of the political groups do not posses this type of advanced mechanism. For the political groups, their cheap propaganda, can get acceptance with the absence of civil society. That is why they are at the fore fronts to weaken the progress of the growth of civil society."

I mentioned also that, the civil society has to be vigilant not to be infiltrated and contaminated by agents from the political groups.

Elections of Administrators of Zoba Debub (Southern Region) of Eritrea.

There are 197 villages in Zoba Debub (Southern Region) of Eritrea. It means that one administrator and one deputy for each village has been elected. Out of a total of 394 Administrators and Deputies elected 47 were women of whom 4 are Administrators and 43 Deputies.

Now, we know that a pilot election in the Zoba Debub ( Southern Region) of Eritrea is tested and the result seems promising. The elected administrators term is for one year and their activities is going to be monitored closely. This is going to be the base for future elections in Eritrea. On this occasion, I would like to congratulate the Eriterean government for its recognition of the basic human rights and that is conducting elections and counting the say of the people. I hope soon this trend to follow to the national election. By doing that the Eritrean people's say will be counted at the national level as well. Therefore, by saying good luck for those who took responsibility to administrate and wishing overall success to the Zoba Debub, I would like to comment related within the subject of election on village level as a starting point.

To this date elections are continuing presumably the rest regions of Eritrea for administrators. The difficulty is there is no means to get information about the elections except the piece of information posted at Shaebia.org web cite.

In part seven, under the heading Towards Election, I mentioned the only way to Eritrean political success is through fair and justified elections. I realized that without freedom of press fair elections are difficult to achieve. I examined the circumstances that led to the closure of the freedom of press in Eritrea I said as the following.

I continued by saying that, "Yes, it is true that, at the infant period of the freedom of press, a certain amateurism of journalism to exist. And that is how it starts and develops to professional journalism. I think, this weakness, of lack of professionalism, in the private presses, could be improved and develops by short courses of journalism and by introducing strong ethical measures. But, closing it and detaining the journalists is a set back to Eritrean civilization. The consequence of the closure of the freedom of press is negative. Creativity diminishes and the belongings to the free society disappears. It is bad sign of a failure of creating modern society."

I concluded by raising a question that nobody, to my knowledge, dared to debate it publicly. I said, "Finally, I want to conclude by raising a question, does the Eritrian press deserves a sentence?"

In part eight, I mentioned about elections generally that are going around the world. I said, elections are under going every where except in Eritrea. I inquired, why is it up to now, the commission of election in Eritrea kept silent. I said, even the commission didn't dared to mention its composition and the activities that waged until now.

The following is what I said about elections around the neighbors of Eritrea. I said, "Let me talk, not to much but a little bit of the elections waged around near neighbors of Eritrea. The first one is Ethiopia. We Eritreans are the first and the most injured people by Ethiopians. They terrorized us and we consider them as the cruel aggressors in this world. Moreover, we don't have the confidence that they will let us live alone peacefully. Because of those rough and hard times we had with them we don't want to mention them on good terms. Needless to say about the atrocities committed by Ethiopians against the Eritrean people, but when, after time elapses and the dust settles, who knows a good time comes and the Ethiopian and Eritrean people becomes good friends, I tell you, it is dream but when it becomes realty, the strongest, the prosperous and happy people, among the happiest people in this world are going to be. Putting aside this wishful hope aside, I ask a permission from my people I to say, a few words good about Ethiopia. And that is the election they waged are more worthy than the lame excuses of ours in delaying elections. At least, they gained experience a head of us. For sure, next time they are going to do much better learning from their past mistakes. We Eritreans are not practicing elections at the national level and what we missing is the experience. I don't ask a perfect election but I ask let us learn from experience."

Before concluding the article, I mentioned about the joy I get in participating in elections here in my resident place, Norway. In conclusion, I said, "the importance of election is not a show, it is the manifestation of the exercise of the right of a people. Conducting elections will not be an excuse to the hindrance of the ongoing reconstruction of Eritrea. Elections for national parliament to Eritrea is going to give us the experience of direct participation of the Eritrean people in the say of its destiny. Remembering the vote we had during the referendum for Eritrean independence, the Eritrean people is matured enough to participate in elections"

In part nine, I mentioned about the meeting of alliance in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I supported the unity of the opposition forces, that declares non violence and that, explicitly, without preconditions accepts the existence of the present government in Eritrea.

I exposed the danger of undermining opposition groups by their small in number. I said, "As is historically known and present time proves it, always exclusion ends in violence. That is fact. No matter which group is strong for the time being, it changes with time. All the crises of Somalia started from the meeting of the then opposition forces of Somalia in Addis Ababa. At the beginning the opposition forces fighting against Sied Barre were very small and Sied Barre was undermining them as few mercenaries supported by Ethiopia. At that time, Sied Barre, instead of trying to include the opposition forces, to bring them out from dependence of Ethiopia, he ignored them and he gave chance for Ethiopia to play the game in its way. I think, what is happening nowadays against Eritrea has similarity with what happened to Sied Barre. Don't forget that, Sied Baree was a leader of a liberation force for Somalia against colonial powers. He was hero of the Somali people and he was liked ver much the same we like now our president. But, as time goes on, people becomes tire and wear with violence, being it internal or external. They lose their faith, even for the beloved leader. That is the worst scenario. Therefore, if Eritrea is going to crush the encirclement, it is by calling the opposition forces out from Addis Ababa to their beloved mother land Eritrea. Eritrea has to be kind, mercy and that loves its children."

I concluded by saying, "the unity of the opposition forces is a step forward than fragmented opposition forces. The existence of the opposition forces that includes the existence of the present government is positive. We need a genuine opposition forces to balance the concentration of power of one political group. With clear and no precondition announcement, of non violence stand, of the opposition forces, the Eritrean government should announce a date of election that allows all to participate without exception. Let the Eritrean people decide by whom to be governed. The Eritrean government has not to wait to show us monumental projects in this fast growing world. Political, economical and social success of a country is nowadays reflected by the elections it conducts. Therefore, by declaring date of election, situations will be surprisingly change positively to the favor of Eritrea. It is only, after that, the Eritrean government could get respect among the international community. I wish, happy ending for all Eritreans and I am going to continue to contribute my share that brings happiness to the Eritrean people. Next "focus on Eritrean election part ten" is going to be summary of the past nine parts."

Conclusion, this time, situations for Eritrea seems favorable. The man made difficulties are contained and the natural disaster, the present drought, is on right time alarmed. Separating the political issue and the humanitarian issue is a minimum requirement from civilized mentality. The Eritrean government is exerting its maximum effort to save the country and we have to lend it our hands. We are not going to ignore, the carelessness of the government's handling on human right issues, but this has to be handled within the framework of abiding law and order of the country. The supreme body, to lead the country is, the Eritrean government and we as citizens of matured and responsible people are confronted to heed with the governments say. When it comes to the question about our say, it is only by casting our vote to our representatives that says on our behave would be materialized.

We demand elections to be held in Eritrea. As for the opposition groups we have to encourage them they to be united and be governed by their charter. I ask the opposition groups to be firmly and explicitly to be non violence. Here there is going to be need of explanation why I support united opposition under one disciplined leadership. The reason is, no power in this world can stop the formation of opposition groups. If there are different opposition groups their actions could be different. Some of them could kill innocent people. Some of them could plant mines. Some of them could kidnap and ask ransom. And others could be engaged in hit and run tactics. These kinds of opposition groupies could not bring change but they can be destructive. To have control and discipline, eventually to avoid their destructive behavior the best solution is to contain them in a united and disciplined opposition groups.

God bless Eritrea and Eid Mubarak for my Moslem brothers and sisters.

Tesfamicael Yohannes
Oslo, Norway

The following note is, from the book "ROGUE STATE", by William Blum.
quotation from "Perverting Elections".

Title 2, United States Code Amended (USCA), Section 441e(a)"

Additional information about elections in Eritrea,

Hagere Eretra/al-Dawla al-Iritra (State of Eritrea)

Executive:
President: Issayas Aferworki (1993) PFDJ
The president is an interim president not yet elected. The government is formed by the PFDJ.

Parliament:
The Hagerawi Baito (National Assembly) has 104 members, 60 members appointed and 44 members representing the members of the Central Committee of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice. According to the IPU parliament has 150 indirectly elected members. The National Assembly was composed in february 1992.
AFP reported that Eritreans have elected 399 representatives in the country's six regions in a lengthy process that will lead to the formation of a constituent assembly. The regional elections began on 4 january 1997 in some parts of the country and were completed in others by 1 march 1997. Only the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (authoritarian) is allowed.