The Metekakat plan – officially adopted in June 2009 by the ruling party, EPRDF – is meant to transfer power to a new generation of leaders in 3-phases. Former PM Meles Zenawi was among those scheduled to resign in the third phase by 2015.

The first-phase of the Metekakat took place in the previous party Congress in 2010. At the time, at least one third of the 36 EPRDF executive Committee members left the top league. However, most of the outgoings didn’t fully resign from political life. Rather, they retained their seats at the next powerful decision-making organs of the party and took relatively less prominent government posts. After all, the the Metekakat was defined from the beginning as a redeployment from “high-level executive roles” into a “advisory roles”.

The second phase of the Metekakat was scheduled to take place in the EPRDF members parties’ congresses held last month, where another major change has been witnessed. (For example, 13 of the 36 EPRDF executive members were not re-elected.) This is in addition to the changes in leadership made last September following the sudden passing of Meles Zenawi.

However, there is a big confusion on whether the Metekakat is advancing or stalled or reversed.

The sources of the confusion ranges, among others, from mere absence of data to the ambiguity on the definition of “generation” even among EPRDF officials. (For a better grasp of the Metekakat affair, read my previous analyses “Ethiopia’s Ruling Party: Transition plus Confusion”  and “EPRDF Congress| Undermined by fuzzy Metekakat plan“)

My analyses of the scale and quality of the Metekakat is far from complete. However, for the sake of informed discourse and given the strong demand for it, I decided to present it stage by stage – starting from a brief on the party’s structures and election system which is one source of confusion.

EPRDF’s leadership structure & election

The Ethiopian ruling party EPRDF (Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front) conducted its latest Congress from March 23-26, 2013 where PM Hailemariam and Dep. PM Demeke Mmekonen were re-elected as the party’s Chairman and deputy, respectively.

Save the two, the rest of the EPRDF leadership was elected almost a week earlier in the Congresses of the member parties – namely, SEPDM (Southern Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic movement), ANDM (Amhara Nation Democratic Movement), TPLF (Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front) and OPDO (Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization).

I bet you have heard various conflicting descriptions, including state media news reports claiming the EPRDF Congress elected the 36 member executive committee members (a confusion apparently created as the list of EPRDF executive committee members was read in the Congress alongside the announcement of the Chairpersons’ re-election)..

Let me briefly describe the process as it happened last month.

The four member parties of EPRDF held their Congresses from March 18-21, 2013. Each Congress was attended by about 1000 voting members – the majority of which are elected by secret ballot from grass root party structures.

Each Congress, besides hearing and approving reports and other agenda, directly elects its Central Committee by a secret ballot. The Central Committee then elects its Chairpersons, its Executive Committee and its representatives to the EPRDF Executive Committee.

Following that election procedure:

SEPDM‘s Congress elected 250 of its members as its representatives in the EPRDF Council and 65 of its members to serve as SEPDM Central Committee members

The SEPDM Central Committee members held a brief meeting, while  the sideline of the Congress and elected 15 of its own to serve as SEPDM Executive Committee and – from amongst the 15 – it elected Chairman and Deputy.

It also elected 45 of Central Committee members to serve as its representatives in the EPRDF Council.

The 15 SEPDM Executive Committee members elected 9 of their own to represent SEPDM in EPRDF Executive Committee.

Then, they officiated their election results to the Congress which was on a tea-break.

ANDM‘s Congress, similarly, elected 250 of its members as its representatives in the EPRDF Council and 65 of its members to serve as ANDM Central Committee members.

The Central Committee held a brief meeting on the sideline of the Congress and elected 13 of its own to serve as ANDM Executive Committee and – from amongst them – the Chairman and Deputy.

It also elected 45 of Central Committee members to serve as its representatives in the EPRDF Council.

Then, the ANDM Executive Committee voted to elect 9 of their own to represent ANDM in EPRDF Executive Committee.

TPLF‘s Congress elected 250 of its members as its representatives in the EPRDF Council and 45 of its members to serve as TPLF Central Committee members.

The Central Committee then held a brief meeting on the sideline of the Congress and elected 9 of its own to serve as TPLF Executive Committee and – from amongst them – its Chairman and Deputy.

As the number of TPLF Central Committee and Executive Committee members matches its quota in the EPRDF Council and Executive Committee, respectively, they need not vote to elected their representatives to the later two organs.

In other words, TPLF Central Committee and Executive Committee members are automatically TPLF’s representatives in the EPRDF Council and Executive Committee, respectively.

OPDO‘s Congress elected 250 of its members as its representatives in the EPRDF Council and 81 of its members to serve as OPDO Central Committee members.

The Central Committee then held a brief meeting on the sideline of the Congress and elected 13 of its own to serve as OPDO Executive Committee and – from amongst them – the Chairman and Deputy.

It also elected 45 of Central Committee members to serve as its representatives in the EPRDF Council.

The OPDO Executive Committee elected 9 of their own to represent OPDO in EPRDF Executive Committee.

Thus, by March 20 and 21, when the four parties concluded their Congresses, the new EPRDF leadership was elected; i.e. – the 180 members of EPRDF Council and the 36 member EPRDF Executive Committee which I was “live blogging” on facebook and twitter.

However, the EPRDF Chairperson and Deputy were elected at the end of the EPRDF Congress on March 26. It was the EPRDF Council – which briefly met while the Congress was on a tea break –  that elected the Chair and Deputy from among the EPRDF Executive Committee members.

*******
Forthcoming in the “Metekakat review” series:

* EPRDF’s New Executive – who is in and who is out? | Metekakat review (later today)
* EPRDF’s New Council – who is in and who is out?| Metekakat review (tomorrow)
* Also, Summaries of the changes in the four EPRDF Members parties leadership and more.