Ethiopia's ruling party said Tuesday claims of harassment and imprisonment of opposition candidates ahead of elections in May were found to be baseless, insisting democratic space in the country had expanded since the last elections in May 2005.

The ruling Ethiopian People's Democratic Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) said its investigations into allegations of harassment and imprisonment of opposition politicians were baseless.

EPRDF Spokesman Sekou Toure said the ruling party had contributed to efforts to expand democratic space in Ethiopia since the 2005 elections, including the release of 181 opposition politicians charged in connection with the post-election violence in the country.

Toure said the accusations against the EPRDF, made by the opposition All Ethiopia Unity Organisation (AEUO), were found to be false after investigations carried jointly with the opposition.

But the AEUO said the investigations carried out by both parties had established widespread abuse of opposition candidates ahead of the 23 May parliamentary elections.

'We had raised complaints of harassment and imprisonment of our candidates. These reports were confirmed by the investigating teams,' Yacob Likke, the Foreign Committee Relations head of AEUO, told PANA in a telephone interview.

Toure said the party had been striving to conduct free, fair and democratic elections.

The Ethiopian government has signed an electoral code of conduct with the opposition. The code provides the base for the conduct of what the ruling party has styled as democratic elections.

'The basis for this (expanded democratic space) is the proclamation for the Electoral Code of Conduct for Political Parties which was prepared, negotiated and ratified by political parties,' Toure told journalists.

According to the EPRDF, the opposition AEUO had complained that 30 of its candidates were harassed or imprisoned in various regions, including Oromia, the Southern part of Ethiopia and Adama, central Ethiopia, 100 km outside capital, Addis Ababa.

The EPRDF officials said the investigations found out that only three candidates had valid reasons to lodge complaints of harassment.

"In the investigations carried out in Oromia and the Southern Nationalities Region, 12 cases out of the 30 complaints by AUEO were found baseless and both sides have confirmed the authenticity of the findings with their signatures,' Toure said.

But the All Ethiopian Party said the claims by the ruling party 'were usual lies.'

'This is the usual lie. I will raise this issue with the EPRDFâ¦They are absolutely wrong,' Likke said.

EPRDF said it would not accept unsubstantiated claims by the opposition political parties contesting the elections in May, adding: ''False claims by parties are not acceptable in accordance with article six of the Proclamationâ¦the EPRDF urges the Organisation to refrain from such acts and contribute its share for a free, fair and democratic election.'

Addis Ababa - Pana 03/03/2010