The Ethiopian Democratic Party () is a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. The result of no less than five mergers of
liberal and
conservative liberal
Conservative liberalism, also referred to as right-liberalism, is a variant of liberalism combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right wing of the liberal movement. In the case of modern con ...
opposition parties, it could trace its roots to the
Ethiopian Democratic Union, which mounted armed
monarchist
Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. C ...
resistance to the
Derg
The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...
in the immediate aftermath of the
overthrow of
Haile Selassie I
Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
. In the
legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin, as it was then known, was part of the
United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, that won 52 out of 527 seats in the
Council of People's Representatives
The House of Peoples' Representatives is the lower house of the Ethiopia, Ethiopian Federal Parliamentary Assembly. Located in the capital Addis Ababa, the House has 547 members. All are elected in theory for five-year term in single-seat constit ...
. It won no seats in the
2010 elections.
Founding, mergers, and consolidation
In October 1999, the Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) was registered following "40 weeks of political discussion". In mid-2000, the party held its first congress, electing
Admassu Gebeyehu,
Hailu Araya and
Lidetu Ayalew as Chairman, Vice Chairman, and General Secretary, respectively.
In September 2003, the EDP merged with the
Ethiopian Democratic Union, becoming the United Ethiopian Democratic Party.
Mengesha Seyoum became the party's honorary chairman, but played little role in the party administration, living in exile, and the post was quietly abolished.
In September 2004, it merged with the Ethiopian Medhin (Salvation) Democratic Party founded by former Foreign Minister
Goshu Wolde and became the United Ethiopian Democratic Party – Medhin.
In early 2005, it absorbed the short-lived Ethiopian Democratic Action Group of
Sophia Yilma, daughter of former
Minister of Finance
A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position .
A ministry of finance's portfolio ...
Yilma Deressa.
In August 2005, Lidetu Ayalew was elected Party President, Sophia Yilma Vice President, and
Mushe Semu Secretary General.
Merger history
The following is an illustration of the party's mergers and name changes.
Electoral performance
It agreed to contest the
2005 parliamentary elections as part of the
Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), winning 52 seats. It was one of the few to take their seats in parliament, splitting with the remainder of the coalition.
There were soon inner power struggles within the CUD, however. Former Chairman Hailu Araya had backed the leadership of
Berhanu Nega, but was defeated in the Party Congress in August. Lidetu and Mushe were suspended from the CUD Central Council in October, and the party central committee voted to leave the coalition.
Lidetu was a victim of character assassination and defamation following the 2005 elections by the former CUD leaders. However, the election campaign in 2010 revealed that Lidetu and his party were not behind the unsuccessful unity. Despite this vindication, the party did not win any seats in the election, with the opposition overall winning only one seat.
UEDP-Medhin at present uses its original name EDP – Ethiopian Democratic Party.
In March 2011,
Mushe Semu became party president, succeeding Lidetu.
Political positions
The EDP is one of the few Ethiopian parties with non-leftist origins, and had ties with the pre-revolutionary establishment.
Correspondingly, it takes strong exception to the "
ethnic federalist" and "democratic
developmentalist" ideology of the ruling
EPRDF.
Approach to governance and politics
The EDP is strongly opposed to the policy of
Ethnic federalism
Ethnic federalism, multi-ethnic or multi-national federalism,Liam D. Anderson (2016),"Ethnofederalism: The Worst form of institutional arrangement...?" Academia is a form of Federation, federal system in which the federated regional or state units ...
and
the division of Ethiopia on ethnic lines, supporting the restoration of the traditional
provinces of Ethiopia
Historically, Ethiopia was divided into provinces, further subdivided into '' awrajjas'' or districts, until they were replaced by ethnolinguistic-based regions (''kililoch'') and chartered cities in 1995.
History
Pre-1936
Older provinces (exi ...
within a federalist structure.
It also supports the establishment of an independent judiciary, the observance of rule of law and human rights, as well as the strengthening of the rights of the federal regions. It rejects
ethnic
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...
politics and as well as the general
left-wing
Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
discourse of Ethiopian government.
However, it is supportive of peaceful opposition and opposes armed struggle against the present government, condemning the endorsement of
Berhanu Nega for the establishment of an armed resistance (later actualised as the "
Ginbot 7 Popular Force") against the
EPRDF government.
It was this refusal to support armed struggle that was behind much of the allegations that the EDP was insufficiently opposed to or in collaboration with the
EPRDF in the run-up to the 2010 elections.
Economic positions
Opposing the
state interventionist policies of the government, the party contends that government policies have weakened the Ethiopian private sector and hampered prospects for long-term growth. It opposes continued state ownership of land and supports the reform to allow for private ownership of land, as well as increasing the property rights of smallholders. It is opposed to the price controls imposed to counter the high rate of inflation, saying that expansionary fiscal policies were to blame, and that punishing lending requirements on the private sector- private banks are required to set aside 27% of their lending for treasury bonds to fund large infrastructure projects- were hampering the economy, a position supported by the
IMF
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of la ...
,
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...
, and pro-business Ethiopian organisations like the
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
and
Capital Ethiopia
''Capital'' (also known as ''Capital Ethiopia'') is an Ethiopian weekly business newspaper published and distributed by Crown Publishing Plc. It is published once a week, on Sundays. It was established in December 1998 with a pro business perspec ...
.
Party leaders
Ethiopian Democratic Union
*''
Leul Ras''
Mengesha Seyoum (1974–1978)
Ethiopian Democratic Party
*''
Ato''
Admassu Gebeyehu (2000–2005)
*''
Ato''
Lidetu Ayalew (2005–2011)
*''
Ato''
Mushe Semu (2011–2013)
*''
Dr.''
Chane Kebede (2013–2019)
*''
Ato''
Adane Tadesse (2019–present)
References
{{Ethiopia political parties
1974 establishments in Ethiopia
2019 disestablishments in Ethiopia
Centrist parties in Africa
Defunct political parties in Ethiopia
Ethiopian Civil War
Ethiopian nationalism
Federalist parties in Ethiopia
Liberal parties in Ethiopia
Nationalist parties in Africa
Political parties disestablished in 2019
Political parties established in 1974
Rebel groups in Ethiopia