The online presence of Ethiopian opposition political parties By T, Staffer of De Birhan Media 12 October 2012

There are around 100 political parties registered with the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. These are the legally operating parties in the regimes 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, lets 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 Category Political Party Type

Ethiopia Justice and Democratic Forces Front(EJDFF) Opposition-Front

- Online Prese nce

No

Social Media Account/URL Name

No

Unity of Southern Ethiopia Democratic Forces (USEDF) Ethiopia Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Forum) Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) Oromo Peoples Congress (ONC) All Ethiopian Unity Party (AEUP) Western Somali Democratic Party (WSDP) Oromo Liberation Unity Front (OLUF) Ethiopian Peace and Democratic Party (EPDP) Ethiopian National Democratic Party(ENDP) Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP) Tigri Worgi Nationality Democratic Unity Party (TWNDUP) Ethiopian's Unity Democratic Organization (EUDO) Southern Ethiopia People's Democratic Union (SEPDU) Yem Nationality Democratic Movement (YNDM) Gurage People Democratic Front (GUPDF) Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) Ethiopia

Opposition- Front

No

No

Opposition- Front OppositionCoalition Opposition- Party Opposition-Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No Yes No No No No No Yes No

No No
http://www.oromopeoplescongress.org/ No Social Media Presence

No No No No No http://ethiopiandemocraticpartyedp.org/ / No Social Media Presence No

Opposition/Party

No

No

Opposition/Party

No

No

Opposition/Party

No

No

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No No

No No No

Democratic Union (EDU) All Ethiopian Democratic Party (AEDP) Ethiopian PanAfricanist Party (EPAP) Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) Ethiopian National Unity Party (ENUP) Unity of Southern Ethiopian Democratic Forces (USEDF) All Ethiopian National Movement (AENM) Ethiopian Democratic Unity Movement (EDUM) Oromo National Congress (OPC) Union of Tigrians for Democracy and Sovereignty (UTDS) Birhan For Unity and Democracy Party (BUDP) Ethiopian Addis Meraf Party (EAMP) Ethiopian Justice and Democratic Forces Front (EJDFF) All Oromo People Democratic Party (AOPDP) Argoba Nationality Democratic

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No No

No No No

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No No

No No No

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No

No No

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No

No No

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No Yes No

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

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party

No No

No No

Movement (ANDM) Ethiopian Raie Party (ARP) Coalition For Unity and Democratic Party (CUDP) Gamo-Gofa Peoples Democratic Unity (GPDU) Blue Party (BP) Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ)

Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/Party Opposition/ Party Opposition/ Party

No No No No Yes

No No No No URL/ Present on Facebook 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. Ethiopias 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 total Purposively selected for this study: 23

Name of the Party

NARC-KENYA

Online Presence
Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No

URL
http://www.narckenyausa.org/ No One Facebook/ http://www.labourpartykenya.org/(down) No http://www.udfparty.org/ and in all Social Media http://www.restoreandbuildkenya.org/ and in all Social Media http://kenyanationalcongress.com/ and in all Social Media No

THE NATIONAL VISION PARTY THE LABOUR PARTY OF KENYA GRAND NATIONAL UNION UNITED DEMOCRATIC FORUM PARTY RESTORE AND BUILD KENYA KENYA NATIONAL CONGRESS WIPER DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT- KENYA

DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF KENYA ALLIANCE PARTY OF KENYA KENYA SOCIAL CONGRESS NEW FORD KENYA PEOPLES PARTY OF KENYA FORUM FOR RESTORATION OF DEMOCRACY-KENYA PROGRESSIVE PARTY OF KENYA KENYA AFRICAN DEMOCRATIC UNIONASILI KENYA AFRICAN NATIONAL UNION NATIONAL AGENDA PARTY OF KENYA SHIRIKISHO PARTY OF KENYA UNITY PARTY OF KENYA FEDERAL PARTY OF KENYA MUUNGANO DEVELOPMENT MOVEMENT PARTY OF KENYA

Yes No No

http://www.democraticpartyofkenya.co.k e/ and present in all Social Media No No

Yes No No

No URL/Present of Social Media No No

Yes

No URL/Present on Social Media

No

No

No

No

Yes

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

Yes

No Yes

No http://www.federalpartykenya.org/ and on Social Media 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 UDJs 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 doesnt 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 dont 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 dont 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.