By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

October 4. 2010 (ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi, chairman of the ruling EPRDF party, on Monday was sworn in as Prime Minister of the country for another five years.

The ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) directly appointed Meles Zenawi according to the mandate given to the House of Peoples Representatives in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’s Constitution, which states that the House can directly appoint the Prime Minister.

“Abided to the constitution, I hereby pledge to loyally carryout duties and responsibilities and serve my country and its people," he said at a swearing-in ceremony held in parliament.

Meles, who is 55, came to power in 1991 after toppling the Derg regime, a communist junta led by Mengistu Haile Mariam’s following a 17-year war.

MPs, newly elected speakers of the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR) and the House of Federation (HoF) took the oath of office to faithfully, diligently and solely work in accordance to the constitution and the people of Ethiopia.

The Fourth term joint session of the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR) and the House of Federation (HoF) also elected the former defense minister Abadula Gemeda to be Speaker of HPR. The House reelected Shitaye Minale as Deputy Speaker.

The Parliament is expected to appoint new ministers in the upcoming days.

Addressing the respective Houses, President Girma Woldegiorgis pointed out the tasks expected to be executed by the two Houses during the year.

He called on Ethiopian opposition political groups to continue their peaceful struggle. He urged the public join hands with government to realize the 5 year growth and development plan which the government hopes will see economic growth increase from around 10% to 15% a year.

The Ethiopian president advised anti-peace movements working with Eritrea to come to peace negotiations. He reaffirmed that his country will work for peace and security in Ethiopia and the region.

A number of Ambassadors, foreign diplomats, politicians, religious leaders, public figures and other invited guests attended the joint session.

Ethiopia’s ruling party won 545 seats in the 547-member parliament on the country’s May 23 national election.

According to Reuters two opposition members in the sensitive Oromia region were shot dead by police after the landslide victory for Meles’ party was announced.

On May 26 Reuters reported that:

An eight-party opposition coalition called Medrek, which includes the OPC, called Wednesday for a rerun of the election and said it would not be deterred by the ruling party’s desire to have a single-party state.

An eight-party opposition coalition called Medrek, which includes the OPC, called Wednesday for a rerun of the election and said it would not be deterred by the ruling party’s desire to have a single-party state.

In spite of all the sacrifices paid, both by the nation and by the respective parties, this election simply does not pass the test so we are calling for a rerun of the whole election in the presence of independent election administrators and observers," said Beyene Petros, the chairman of Medrek.

(ST)