Originally posted by the Voice of America. Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America, a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in the public domain. Ethiopian Government Confident Sunday's Polls Will be Credible Ethiopian government is confident Sunday's polls will be credible, despite opposition statements to the contrary Yeheyes Wuhib | Washington DC 21 May 2010 A senior Ethiopian government official says Addis Ababa is ready to hold the May 23 parliamentary election in a free, fair and credible manner. Communications Minister Bereket Simon says allegations of politically motivated killings are an effort by the opposition to convince the international community that the electoral process is not credible. âFirst,â says Bereket, âwe have drafted a code of conduct which was discussed by a majority of political parties. Secondly, we have formed a joint party forum. [Also], the public broadcasting service has allocated about 570 hours of radio and television time to the parties; and, for the first time in our history the federal government has given political parties financial subsidies. Communications Minister Bereket Simon So in our opinion, everything is in place for the upcoming elections.â Bereket also says voter registration has gone well. He said assertions by the opposition that the government was already violating the electoral code of conduct were a smear campaign by those who did not sign the code. âBased on the facts on the ground, all pending cases that were submitted to the joint party forum have been investigated and 95 percent of the cases have been found to be untrue,â said Bereket. âI hear that such concerns are raised by the parties who havenât signed the code of conduct. This is a party which declined to sign [it] and yet has the audacity to accuse the ruling party of violating [it].â In contrast, opposition leader Birhanu Nega is not optimistic about the fairness of Sundayâs ballot, and doubts it will bring change. Berhanu was a deputy chair of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, an opposition grouping that made impressive gains in the 2005 national polls. Berhanu Nega  Heâs also the founder of the pro-democracy movement called Ginbot 7, a group the government says wants to overthrow the administration of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Last year, the Ethiopian Supreme court sentenced Birhanu to death in absentia. Heâs now an Assistant Professor of Economics at Bucknell University in the state of Pennsylvania. According to Beihanu, democracy requires that politics be conducted in a peaceful way, with a free exchange of ideas, open debate and universal suffrage.  Ideally, various parties can present their policy proposals and ask the public to vote for them. âThere is no such thing in Ethiopia,â assert Birhanu. "There [are] no politics in the real sense of the word in Ethiopia.â âWhat you have,â he says,âis a government that is terrorizing society. It is in power by force, it wants to maintain its power by force, and in so far as that exists, any meaningful politics is not possible.â  .