An “AFP Africa” report published on Wednesday titled “Troubles pile up ahead of Ethiopia’s first polls under Abiy” was red flagged by Awasa Guardian (AG) readers who cited it for several misinformation on the upcoming election in Ethiopia. In one instance, its figures were off by over 600 percent.

AFP CLAIM: only 200,000 voters have registered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa

VERDICT: False

FACT: The AFP figure is off by a staggering one million. Even two weeks before AFP’s publication, the total registration tally in Addis Ababa was 1.2 Million voters.

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AFP CLAIM: prominent opposition parties have boycotted the Ethiopian election.

VERDICT: Misleading

FACT: While a couple of one-ethnic based parties (out of over 80 ethnicities) have suspended due to court proceeding facing members, there is no boycott by a nationwide opposition party that competes in all regional states of Ethiopia. The biggest opposition party, the Ezema, has not boycotted the election despite the reported harassment of its members and the murder of a couple of its candidates. 
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AFP CLAIM: only half of Ethiopia’s 50,000 polling stations are operational and those in Somali region are not functional.

VERDICT: False

FACT: A report last month revealed that at least 41,659 polling stations are operational in Ethiopia, and its Somali region, despite various obstacles, has registered 43 percent of its eligible population. (Historically elections were postponed or canceled in parts of Somali and other conflict areas the past two decades) Last week, registration deadlines have been extended in some areas of insecurity, like Wolega zone, which is a standard procedure in democratizing third world countries.

In addition to these falsehoods flagged on the latest AFP report, independent observers noted the article as being overall misleading via omission of critical facts related to the upcoming election. The 2021 Ethiopian poll has been labeled a historic election, due to its election board (NEBE) becoming independent of the ruling party for the first time in the country’s history; not due to voter registration records, as depicted by the AFP report. In fact, instability and turnout factors due to the post-2018 loosing of the security apparatus and the collapse of the authoritarian TPLF-era involuntary registration structure is likely to produce lower total figures. However, the new development of a homegrown nonpartisan election institution detached from the ruling party is a historic milestone and it is why most Ethiopians agreed that foreign election monitors like the EU are “not necessary nor essential” anymore.

As of late Wednesday, the inaccurate figures published by AFP have not been corrected. Critics say such misleading Western media reports hamper Ethiopia’s foreign relations as well as cause voter suppression in a country trying to build democracy.

This is not the first time AFP’s Ethiopia journalist Robbie Corey has been embroiled in a misleading report. In February, he was accused by the Red Cross of rushing to misquote their statement on Tigray in order to depict the most grim narrative on the conflict. At the time, Press Secretariat Billene Seyoum advised Western media to “avoid sensationalism” that perpetuates violence, emboldens criminals and hampers progress in Ethiopia and Africa as a whole.