Eritrea: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Overview: Eritrea is a one-party state. Elections have been postponed repeatedly, and reforms called for in the constitution, ratified in 1997, have yet to take place.

Constitution: In March 1994, the Provisional Government of Eritrea established a Constitutional Commission. The resulting constitution was introduced in 1997, one year later than planned. Although the constitution has been ratified, it has yet to be fully implemented, and general elections have not been held, despite the ratification of an election law in 2002.

Branches of Government: The Eritrean constitution calls for legislative, executive, and judicial branches. According to the constitution, a 150-seat unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, decides internal and external policy, approves the budget, and elects the president of the country. However, the National Assembly has not met since 2002, and many of its members are either in prison or have fled the country. Legislative as well as executive functions are now exercised by President Isaias Afwerki. The president’s cabinet, the executive branch of the government, has 17 ministers, all appointed by the president. Civilian and military zonal administrators also are appointed by the president. The judiciary consists of three court systems: civilian, military, and special courts. Civilian courts include community courts, sub-regional courts, regional courts, and the High Court, which also serves as an appellate court.

Administrative Divisions: Eritrea has six administrative regions (zobatat; sing., zoba): Anseba, Debub, Debubawi K'eyih Bahri, Gash-Barka, Ma'akel, and Semenawi Keyih Bahri.

Provincial and Local Government: Each of the six administrative regions has its own regional, sub-regional, and village administrations.

Judicial and Legal System: Although the judiciary is nominally independent of the executive and legislative branches, in practice there reportedly is significant interference in the judicial process. In one case in 2001, the president of the High Court was detained after criticizing the government for interfering in the judiciary. The legal system incorporates pre-independence laws of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, revised Ethiopian laws, customary laws, and laws enacted after independence. Sharia law is used in civil cases involving Muslims.

Electoral System: National Assembly elections were scheduled for 2001, but the elections were delayed indefinitely by the government and have yet to take place. Although elections have not been held, the president ostensibly serves a five-year term and is limited to serving no more than two terms.

Politics and Political Parties: The People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) is the ruling party in Eritrea. Opposition political parties are not legal and do not have a political presence in the Eritrean government. Opposition groups in Eritrea include the Democratic Movement for the Liberation of Eritrea, the Eritrean Islamic Salvation Movement (Eritrean Islamic Jihad), the Eritrean Liberation Front, the Eritrean National Alliance, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front-Democratic Party, and the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization.

Mass Media: There is no independent press in Eritrea. In 2001, in an effort to quell burgeoning dissent about the future of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice, the government closed down eight independent newspapers and arrested an undisclosed number of journalists. The only published newspaper is the state-owned daily Hadas Eritrea. Daily radio (the Voice of the Broad Masses of Eritrea) and television (ERI-TV) broadcasts made in local languages also are controlled by the government.

Foreign Relations: When Eritrea gained independence in 1993, it enjoyed good relations with its regional neighbors and the goodwill of the international community. A little more than a decade later, Eritrea is increasingly isolated from its neighbors and the international community. Eritrea’s relations with Ethiopia are strained by territorial disputes and relations with Sudan, by political problems. Relations with Yemen warmed considerably in 2004, when President Isaias visited Sana, and the two countries concluded agreements in areas such as cultural exchanges, security, and trade. Although relations with European nations, including Italy, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands, have been close in the past, they have chilled in the wake of the Eritrean government’s crackdown on internal dissent in 2001 and the closure of the independent press. At present, relations with the United States focus on resolving the border dispute with Ethiopia and cooperation on counterterrorism. Relations with Ethiopia, once close and mutually beneficial, are extremely tense, as the border dispute between the two nations has yet to come to a full and peaceful resolution.

Membership in International Organizations: Eritrea is a member of a number of international organizations, among them the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States, African Development Bank, African Union, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), International Criminal Court, International Finance Corporation, Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, International Criminal Police Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Maritime Organization, United Nations, and World Health Organization.

Major International Treaties: Eritrea is a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes, Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, United Nations Convention on Desertification, and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Eritrea is not a party to the Conventions on Biological Weapons or Conventional Weapons.

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