No surprises in the Ethiopian elections. Sunday’s elections most certainly resulted in a mandate for Meles Zenawi. It still will be interesting though to know how many seats the opposition won. Final results are not out yet.

In other news, the junta in Niger has decided that future presidential candidates must have university degrees. Don’t tell them anything about President Lula of Brazil who has done a fabulous job over the last ten years even though he did not finish primary school. My suspicion is that there is a specific Nigerien who is planning to run for office but does not have a university degree. It’s hard to imagine that the junta had the plight of Nigerien peasants in mind when they came up with this requirement.

And lastly, it is beginning to appear like the referendum on Kenya’s new constitution may not be a done deal. The NO camp just got more ammo thanks to this court ruling.