A number of people with alleged sympathies for the opposition parties have been shot dead by government cadres in Eastern Gojjam and other places.The ruling EPRDF has admitted that it security forces have killed two opposition sympathizers in Eastern Gojjam but the cumlprits, as usual, have not been apprehended or brought before a court of law.

The ruling EPRDF has not only rejected the call to amedn the electoral law and to change the elctoral board controlled by it but has resorted to illegal actions that had characterized the unfair election of 2002. Socepp has a long list of people who have recently been cast off their kobs as punihsment for sympathizing with the opposition.Some candidates of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces have been forced to withdraw because securiy agents treatened violent actions against their families while members and symlpathizers of the All Ethiopian Unity Party have been killed in some regions of Gojjam. In contravention of its own electoral laws, the EPRDF has registered candidates in areas where they have not lived continuously for the past two years as the law stipulates.Thus, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is registered in Adwa,Tigrai, minister of information (registered in Bugnq,Wello),minister of development Kasu Ilalu (registered in Sodo,Gurage region) and Ahmed Hassan who has lived in Addis Ababa and Canada registered as an EPRDF candidate in Silte Tibet.

The EPRDF loyalists have been given two or more election cards and many military and security members figure among these. There are clear indications that the May 2005 election is going to be rigged and that, as the election date approaches, the violations of the rights of the people shall increase. Peasants in several regions are also being threatened that they will lose their land and even get jailed for one reason or another if they do not vote for the ruling EPRDF. Food aid is also being used for such purposes according to many credible observers.