Isaias Afewerki - Domestic Policy - Single-party State

Single-party State

Before independence was achieved, the EPLF had already underlined its commitment to create a multi-party system in Eritrea. Isaias Afwerki is quoted as saying: "a one-party system wills neither enhances national security or stability nor accelerates economic development. In fact a one party system could be a major threat to the very existence of our country. For these reasons we will have to avoid these malaises in tomorrow's Eritrea". Shortly after the referendum, the PFDJ became an interim government for four years, until a constitution could be drafted, and elections held in 1997. This interim arrangement was accepted by the public. A year after the formation of the interim government in April 1994, a Constitutional Commission was formed to draft the Eritrean constitution. It was ratified on May 23, 1997 but to this day has not been implemented. The general election, which should have been held in the summer of 1998, was postponed because of the outbreak of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea in May 1998.

Following the Algiers Agreement in July 2000, the Constitutional Commission, senior government officials and the public raised the issue of the implementation of the constitution and election. Thereafter the National Assembly promised to hold elections before the end of 2001. Mahmoud Ahmed Sherifo, the Vice President of Eritrea and Minister of Local Government, was appointed Chair of the Committee to Draft Electoral Law. The elections never occurred. Instead public attention was diverted from focusing on any election by the arrest of 12 senior reformist members of the Central Council (legislative body of PFDJ) and the National Council. The Central Office of the PFDJ believes that they share "...a common guilt: at the minimum, abdication of responsibility during Eritrea's difficult hours, at the maximum, grave conspiracy."

The Eritrean National Assembly neither protested when Mr Mahmoud Sherifo, who was Chair of the Committee to Draft Electoral Laws was dismissed by the President on 7 February nor did it condemn the illegal arrest of their Parliamentary colleagues on 18 September 2001. Since the crackdown on the reformist movement, the PFDJ ruling party has not hesitated to suppress the protests of Eritrean people against the ruling elite depriving them of fundamental rights. To this day, Eritrea still remains a single-party state, with virtually no opposition.

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