29/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - EU encouraged by peaceful conduct of pre-electoral phase. The European Union states that Ethiopia has concluded its pre-electoral process peacefully, and it said on Thursday 28 May that it was encouraged by the good conduct of this phase, in the light of the preliminary statement of the African Union election observation mission. Nevertheless, the spokesperson for the European External Action Service (EEAS) said that the arrests of journalists and members of the opposition, and the closure of the offices of several media had limited the room for open debate and had had a negative impact on the whole of the environment. The spokesperson said that all the parties should adhere to the provisions of the African charter on democracy, elections and governance. These issues were addressed as part of the regular EU-Ethiopia political dialogue meeting. (Aminata Niang)