Why I am Voting Republican in the Upcoming Gubernatorial Election
Tigest Ayele.
My name is Tigest (TG) Ayele. In 1989, I migrated from Ethiopia to the United States and became an American citizen in 2008. I am a registered independent but when it comes to elections, I religiously voted for Democratic candidates pretty much up and down the ballot. I have been involved in voter registration drives, canvassing, driving seniors to voting locations and fundraising for democratic candidates.
Historically, the Democratic Partyโs policy on Ethiopia has been disastrous, often supporting dictators in the name of advancing Americaโs geopolitical interests. Unfortunate as they may have been, past US policies on Ethiopia never influenced my voting decisions or participation in the Democratic Partyโs campaigns. This changed with the Bidenโs administrationโs blatant anti-Ethiopia policy.
President Bidenโs two most important domestic policy items is โinviolable voting rights.โ As he stated in a recent CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, open to removing the long-held US Senate filibuster procedure to help Democrats push through voting rights legislation. However, in Ethiopia, his administration supports the Tigray People Liberation Frontโs (TPLFโs) demand to disenfranchise Ethiopian voters of their rights to elect their leaders and establish an interim government including TPLF. Unfortunately, many Democratic lawmakers are aggressively pushing President Bidenโs agenda. I can no longer vote for Democratic Candidates in Protest.
An online poll that was jointly conducted by several Ethiopian American Associations in which 2534 participants took part confirmed I am not alone in abandoning the Democratic Party. A whooping 97 percent of the participants indicated that the US policy on Ethiopia will be a factor in their voting decision in the 2022 midterm elections. Of the 2483 participants who responded to the question of change in party affiliation, 61.3 percent said they will change to Republican and 23.5 percent to Independent. Many of my friends are among those who are leaving the Democratic Party.
Bidenโs Blind Support for TPLF: The Last Straw that Broke the Proverbial Camelโs Back
For nearly three decades (1991 to 2018), TPLFโs authoritarian rule terrorized Ethiopians. The Human Rights Watch characterized Ethiopia under him as โone of the most inhospitable places in the world, bearing the hallmark of crimes against humanity.โ The US official report regularly wrote about โtorture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatmentsโ of opposition leaders.
In April 2018, Ethiopians forced TPLF out of power after a sustained national uprising. Dr. Abiy Ahmed became the first Protestant Prime Minister (PM) and won global accolades for โsaving the country from a civil warโ (CNN); giving the nation โaย chance to reinvent itselfโ (Foreign Affairs); โigniting economic change equivalent to South Koreaโs influence on Asia in the 1970sโ(Financial Times); and โushering in a new chapter that can chart a path to a viable democracy and economic prosperityย (Freedom House).โ
Losing its grip of power after a national upheaval did not encourage TPLF to be a part of the national transformation process. Instead, it joined forces with Egypt to subvert Ethiopiaโs transformative political and economic reforms. As Rene Lefort, a renowned French journalist who has reported on Africa since 1970, stated: โTPLF is refusing to move one iota from its immutable dogma of โdevelopmental stateโ and โrevolutionary democracy.โ The term โdevelopmental stateโ refers to a state-controlled economic system and โrevolutionary democracyโ a code for socialism.
Egyptโs conflict with Ethiopia involved the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest dam in Africa that Ethiopia is building over the Blue Nile River to generate hydropower that is critical to end its perennial poverty and pave the way for the modยญerniยญzation of the country.
Though 100 percent of the Blue Nile waters originate from Ethiopia, and Ethiopia is building the dam in accordance with international water laws, Egyptโs position is: โThe Nile is a gift to Egypt. If it diminishes by one drop, then our blood is the alternative.โย Egypt confrontedย Ethiopia with a threat toย โbackย rebel groups fighting the Ethiopian governmentโ if it fails to honor Egyptโs hegemony over the Blue Nile River.ย โIf this fails, then there is no choice left for Egypt but to play the final card, which is to destroy the dam.โ
On November 4, 2020, TPLF leaders betrayed their country, responding to Egyptโs call for war against Ethiopia. Its militia forces launched a war against the Ethiopian National Defense Force stationed in the Tigray region. Trumpโs Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, condemned TPLF for triggering a war and his Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, explained that TPLFโs objective was โto overthrow Prime Minister Ahmed and return to the type of privilege they had enjoyed within the Ethiopian State for the last 27-years.โ
On November 15, 2020, Egypt and Sudan launched joint military exercises. In December, Sudan invaded Ethiopia and took over a large swath of farmland. Egyptโs threat to embroil Ethiopia in internal and external wars became a reality.
The Biden Administration Advancing TPLFโs and Egyptโs Agenda
Bidenโs support to TPLF cannot be explained by Americaโs strategic interest in maintaining the stability of the Horn of Africa, a geopolitically significant region. The West in general and the US in particular were relieved to see TPLF out of power, after it put Ethiopia on the brink of a civil war.
Similarly, Bidenโs policy cannot be justified by Americaโs interest in containing Chinaโs influence over the Horn of Africa. Chinaโs investment in Ethiopia was far more during TPLFโs era, amounting to $13 billion between 2006 and 2015. In contrast, Ethiopia under PM Ahmed has been cautious of loans from China.
Ideologically, PM Ahmedโs liberal democracy and market led economy are more aligned with the West, compared to TPLFโs socialist ideology. Why is the Biden administration supporting TPLF? Evidently, Bidenโs policy is driven by Egyptโs interest, using TPLF as a convenient tool. As Reverend Jesse Jackson rightly warned, the USโs misguided policy has serious ramification. โEthiopia Could become 21st Century Colony of Egypt.โ
The Biden Administrationโs blatant animosity towards Ethiopia is nowhere clearer than its support of the TPLFโs demand to nullify the results of the 2021 Ethiopian elections that gave PM Ahmedโs Prosperity Party and establish an interim government outside of the constitutional order that includes TPLF. The Ethiopian election was declared โorderly, peaceful, and credibleโ by the African Union (AU). The results can only be described as a referendum on PM Ahmedโs reform.
The most damaging part of the US position is its push for a provisional government outside of Ethiopiaโs democratic election process, violating the AUโs Charter that rejects all forms of power grab outside of the ballot box. This is a total disregard for African institutions and utterly racist. Ethiopian Americans are justified to abandon the Democratic Party that has taken them for granted and betrayed their unyielding loyalty.
While the Biden administration condemns the Ethiopian government for every alleged war crime and war related atrocities, it is silent on TPLFโs war crimes. No word, much less accusation of TPLF, when TPLF uses child soldiers, some as young as 10 years old. No condemnation when TPLF confiscated over 400 UN Trucks that were used to transport food aid and used them to transport its weapons and military personnel. Al Jazeera reported: โ445 trucks have entered Ethiopiaโs war-torn Tigray, but only 38 returned โ hampering future aid deliveries.โ France24 confirmed, stating: โHundreds of aid trucks โnot returnedโ from Ethiopiaโs Tigray region, says UN.โ The report highlighted that โTPLF (is) seizing trucks for own logisticsโ Yet, the Biden administration accuses the Ethiopian government of starving its own people.
In June, the Ethiopian government declared a unilateral ceasefire. TPLF considered it a โjokeโ and continued its war. Not a word of condemnation when TPLF rejected the unilateral ceasefire the Ethiopian government declared. Nothing rational explains the USโs policy on Ethiopia. Not a humanitarian concern. Not Americaโs strategic interest. Not the interest of the Ethiopian people. Not even the interest of the people in the Tigray region.
I am organizing a Zoom meeting for Ethiopian American registered voters. We are expecting a large crowd. If you are interested in addressing the crowd and answering questions, I would be happy to extend a personal invitation. I could be reached at
