Two Oromo political organizations, ODP and ODF, agree to merge

November 28, 2018 (Ezega.com) – The Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) have decided to merge and become a single party, according to the report of the FBC.

The two Oromo political organizations today signed the merger agreement in Addis Ababa.

Lemma Megersa, Vice President of the ODP and Chief Administrator of the Regional State of Oromia, and Lencho Leta, President of ODF, signed the Memorandum of Understanding.

According to the spokesperson of the ODP, Addisu Arega, the strategies and programs of the two organizations do not differ much and the unification will allow these two organizations to work together.

A technical committee will be set up to work out the details of the merger between the two organizations in the near future, he said.

ODP, formerly called OPDO (Oromo People's Democratic Organization), is one of four political organizations that form the ruling EPRDF party (Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian People). After the recent changes led by the current Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Abiy Ahmed, the ODP has become the main organization within the EPRDF, replacing the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), formerly very powerful.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is the president of the ODP and the EPRDF.

According to its website, ODF was formed in exile in 2013 in the hope of returning home to meet its people and lead a non-violent political struggle. The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) has decided since its inception to engage in a non-violent political struggle to defend the rights of Oromo and other peoples and to guarantee freedom, justice, democracy and prosperity for all.

The ODF leader, Lencho Letta, is an experienced Ethiopian politician who was a founding member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), before leaving the organization and later forming the ODF. He was deputy general secretary of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) from 1974 to 1995. In the late 1990s, Lencho left the leadership of the OLF because of ideological differences. He is currently the leader of the Oromo Democratic Front, created in 2013.

The merger between the two Oromo political organizations in view of the upcoming elections of 2020 should strengthen their influence within the Oromia policy, against their main competitor, the OLF. The OLF started very early with difficulties with regard to its armed operations in the country, which the Ethiopian government and the ODP condemned.

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