The online presence of Ethiopian opposition political parties

By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media12 October 2012

There are around 100 political parties registered with the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. These are the “legally operating” parties in the regime’s lingo. Over 90% of these parties call themselves opposition parties, fronts and coalitions. In addition to watchdogging the Ethiopian regime, it is also our mandate to appraise the function, activities and achievements of these registered political parties. There is a growing view that establishing a political party is becoming more of an entrepreneurial business venture than a genuine cause and movement for a real political change, being reminiscent that some were concocted by the regime itself as “opposition parties”. Most leaders of the opposition political parties enjoy modest salary, receive funding from various sources, gain various training, exchange and international opportunities and win popularity and fame. Although the few genuine political parties receive all these benefits but cannot evenly distribute them either due to large membership, plans and programs; the “business oriented” and rapidly breeding political parties smartly exploit these benefits and opportunities.

The other issue that almost all these political parties are criticized for is the fact that decorated with great visions, they cannot act at all. In addition to this, they are lambasted for being “chauvinists”, “power mongers”, “un-evolving and uninvolving” led by oldies politicians of the 60s, and huge lack of creativity with no kind of visible political activity. This also involves the inability of the political parties to understand the youth and engage them. Especially, with regards to using the widely available and timely technological tools and software, they fare bad. To concretize this, let’s do a short analysis of the online presence of the “registered Ethiopian opposition political parties”. Michael Cohn writing on CompuKol.com, a computer and internet company website defines online presence as “any existence of an individual or business that can be found via an online search.” The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia lists around 80 registered political parties in Ethiopia, we purposively sampled 37 opposition political parties out of them based on the variables of scope, name, age and number of members of the parties. Thus the ones sampled here are those with better track record in those variables.

Name of the Political Party

Category - Type

Online Presence

Social Media Account/URL Name

Ethiopia Justice and Democratic Forces Front(EJDFF)

Opposition-Front No No

Unity of Southern Ethiopia Democratic Forces (USEDF)

Opposition- Front No No

Ethiopia Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Forum)

Opposition- Front No No

Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC)

Opposition- Coalition

No No

Oromo People’s Congress (ONC)

Opposition- Party Yes http://www.oromopeoplescongress.org/No Social Media Presence

All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP)

Opposition-Party No No

Western Somali Democratic Party (WSDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Oromo Liberation Unity Front (OLUF)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian Peace and Democratic Party (EPDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian National Democratic Party(ENDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP)

Opposition/Party Yes http://ethiopiandemocraticparty-edp.org/ / No Social Media Presence

Tigri Worgi Nationality Democratic Unity Party (TWNDUP)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian's Unity Democratic Organization (EUDO)

Opposition/Party No No

Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Union (SEPDU)

Opposition/Party No No

Yem Nationality Democratic Movement (YNDM)

Opposition/Party No No

Gurage People Democratic Front (GUPDF)

Opposition/Party No No

Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopia Opposition/Party No No

Democratic Union (EDU)All Ethiopian Democratic Party (AEDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian Pan-Africanist Party (EPAP)

Opposition/Party No No

Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM)

Opposition/Party No No

United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian National Unity Party (ENUP)

Opposition/Party No No

Unity of Southern Ethiopian Democratic Forces (USEDF)

Opposition/Party No No

All Ethiopian National Movement (AENM)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian Democratic Unity Movement (EDUM)

Opposition/Party No No

Oromo National Congress (OPC)

Opposition/Party No No

Union of Tigrians for Democracy and Sovereignty (UTDS)

Opposition/Party No No

Birhan For Unity and Democracy Party (BUDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Ethiopian Addis Meraf Party (EAMP)

Opposition/Party Yes http://www.addismeraf.org/mission.htm/No presence on Social Media

Ethiopian Justice and Democratic Forces Front (EJDFF)

Opposition/Party No No

All Oromo People Democratic Party (AOPDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Argoba Nationality Democratic

Opposition/Party No No

Movement (ANDM)Ethiopian Raie Party (ARP)

Opposition/Party No No

Coalition For Unity and Democratic Party (CUDP)

Opposition/Party No No

Gamo-Gofa Peoples Democratic Unity (GPDU)

Opposition/Party No No

Blue Party (BP) Opposition/ Party No No URL/ Present on FacebookUnity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ)

Opposition/ Party Yes http://www.andinet.org/ and actively present on all social media

Compiled by De Birhan October 2012

KENYA

We often use Kenyan cases whenever we conduct comparative analysis of Ethiopian scenarios. Ethiopia’s Southern neighbor, Kenya shares many similarities with Ethiopia and can be sometimes taken as a benchmark to conduct comparative analysis of certain socio political aspects.

INDEPENDENT ELECTORAL AND BOUNDARIES COMMISSION (IEBC)REGISTERED POLITICAL PARTIES 2012

Total : 53 parties in totalPurposively selected for this study: 23

Name of the Party Online Presence

URL

NARC-KENYAYes http://www.narckenyausa.org/

THE NATIONAL VISION PARTYNo No

THE LABOUR PARTY OF KENYA

Yes One Facebook/ http://www.labourpartykenya.org/(down)

GRAND NATIONAL UNION

No No

UNITED DEMOCRATIC FORUM PARTY

Yes http://www.udfparty.org/ and in all Social Media

RESTORE AND BUILD KENYA

Yes http://www.restoreandbuildkenya.org/ and in all Social Media

KENYA NATIONAL CONGRESS

Yes http://kenyanationalcongress.com/ and in all Social Media

WIPER DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT- KENYA

No No

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF KENYA

Yes http://www.democraticpartyofkenya.co.ke/

and present in all Social Media

ALLIANCE PARTY OF KENYA

No No

KENYA SOCIAL CONGRESS

No No

NEW FORD KENYA

Yes No URL/Present of Social Media

PEOPLES PARTY OF KENYA

No No

FORUM FOR RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY-KENYA

No No

PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF KENYA

Yes No URL/Present on Social Media

KENYA AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC UNION-ASILI

No No

KENYA AFRICAN NATIONAL UNION

No No

NATIONAL AGENDA PARTY OF KENYA

Yes http://nap-k.org/ and Present on Social Media

SHIRIKISHO PARTY OF KENYA

Yes http://www.shirikishopartykenya.org/

UNITY PARTY OF KENYANo No

FEDERAL PARTY OF KENYA

Yes http://www.federalpartykenya.org/ and on Social Media

MUUNGANO DEVELOPMENT MOVEMENT PARTY OF KENYA

No No

Compiled by De Birhan, October 2012

Findings

The above tables do fairly show the comparative similarities and differences of Ethiopian and Kenyan opposition parties’ online presence. Using the same variables of selection, 23 Political parties from Kenya were selected out of which more than half of them were present online. In the case of Ethiopia, just over 10.5% or only 4 of the total of the studied opposition parties (38), have an online presence and still of which only two of the four websites are regularly updated. Only one i.e UDJ’s is actively present in all forms of social media. In the case of Kenya, 50% of the 23 political parties have an online presence. Most of these parties have regularly updated websites and are present on all social media forms out of which two are only present only on social media (Facebook). Kenyan opposition fare better than their Ethiopian counterparts in terms of online presence however they still have a lot to improve.

Philip N. Howard wrote on his 2010 book The Digital Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Information Technology and Political Islam that the numbers of online Parties and All Political Parties in 2000 were 1 and 26 in Ethiopia. The number of Online Parties and All Political Parties in 2005 in Ethiopia was 3 and 24. The Number of online parties hosted in country/number of online parties/ all political parties in 2008 was 0, 6 and 10. The volume of content provided by political parties for citizens was indicated as moderate in 2008 by Howard.

In this age of speed, communication and technology, a political party that is not present online or doesn’t use social media for all its activities can be called “is better for nothing”. Especially, in a country like Ethiopia, where the political restriction for public mobilization and organization is high, using the online media should have been the main choice of these legally operating parties. In contrast, however, rebel and Diaspora based Ethiopian opposition parties were found to be present online than home based parties. Ethiopian opposition movements based outside Ethiopia had their own actively updated websites, at times social media and often mass media.

As much as we criticize the tyranny of the Ethiopian regime, we need to speak loudly and constructively critique opposition parties. Oppositions should not be established for name sake, ego of the founders or the benefit of few in the leadership. It is bafflingly ludicrous to even imagine anything to come from opposition political parties that don’t have any form of online presence (Website or Social Media). Ethiopians listening to the names and deliberative rhetoric of the leaders of the political parties, hope that change would come by/from these parties. How were media and other organs able to collect information regarding these parties when the parties have had no Official Website? It is a wonder that there are political parties who don’t understand the existence of a “Facebook generation in Ethiopia” or attempt to reach these groups. The problem is also exhibited within the ruling party too. Although having fairly updated Websites, the Parties presence and engagement via other online forum is thin. It is quintessentially timely that we monitor and check the activities of the so called opposition parties as we do the regime and support those that work and show us.