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Representatives of Horn of Africa branches of the Eritrean People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) wound up their five-day congress in Gondar, Ethiopia, on 19 July, and the second part of the party’s congress will be held in Germany starting on 26 July 2015.

The part of the congress held in Gondar was attended by 31 delegates coming from different cities and refugee camps in the Sudan, Ethiopia as well as the EPDP Chairman Menghesteab Asmerom and other three executive committee members who traveled from Europe and North America to submit reports of the Central Council covering the last four years since the first congress held in the summer of 2011. The other executive members were Mr. Woldeyesus Ammar, head for foreign office; Mr. Tesfai Woldemichael (Degiga), head for finance, and Mr. Rezene Tesfazion, head for social affairs.

Following the opening session of 15 July, the congress elected its secretariat chaired by Mr. Debessai Beyene, a senior party cadre in Ethiopia, and heard solidarity messages from a dozen fraternal Eritrean political organizations. In the days that followed, the congress reviewed the leadership’s report covering the past four years; debated article by article and adopted EPDP’s future political programme, the party constitution and finally drafted political resolutions and recommendations that underline the principled positions of the party. Votes supporting each given motion are recorded by the congress secretariat so that they can be consolidated with similar votes to be made in the second part of the congress in Germany later this year to give the final shape to the documents and other resolutions.

On 18 July, the Gondar part of the congress formed an election committee headed by Mr. Ghirmai Kifle of Khartoum, Sudan, and conducted election in a secret ballot of the future party leadership that will be mandated to lead the party during the next four years.

The voting process was preceded by useful clarifications presented by the chairman of the election committee as well as by the chairman of the Election Committee, Mr. Rezene Tesfazion, who said that all branches of the party in five continents participated in suggesting candidates for the leadership through their votes.

Accordingly, a list of candidates who were given highest votes was presented to the congress. In addition, each congress member was considered as eligible candidate until he/she declares otherwise. In this way, each delegate was able to list up to 31 persons as potential future central council members. The ballots were then put in a sealed envelope and handed over to the party chairman, Mr. Menghesteab Asmerom, to carry it to Europe and deliver it to the election committee of the second part of the congress which will be held in Wiesbaden near Frankfurt, Germany, between 26 and 30 July 2015. Also adopted at the Gondar part of the congress were draft resolutions and recommendations as well as the final statement of the congress. These documents will take their final shape after further review and voting by congress participants in Germany.