General, the Central Bank, Anti-Corruption Body, and various government departments. The CRM also held discussions with non-stake stakeholder groups, including private sector representatives, civil society organisations, women’s groups, and political parties. 12. The CRM then met with the National Governing Council on 2nd September 2009. The same day, they held interactive sessions with the President of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, High Court of Justice and Judicial Service Commission. 13. On 3 September 2008, the Mission held an interactive session with Ministers, heads and representatives of 27 Ministries and other Government agencies. Due to the impressive list and wide array of issues, the deliberations could not be completed and the meeting was adjourned till the following day. In the afternoon of the same day, the Panel met with women, the youth, the physically-challenged, trade unions, religious groups, universities and other civil society organisations. 14. On 4 September 2009, the CRM continued the interactive session with Ministers, heads and representatives of Ministries and other Government agencies. They also met with various other bodies, including the National Electoral Board, Human Rights Commission, Ethics and Corruption Commission, and National Bank of Ethiopia. 15. The CRM met with the private sector on Saturday 5 September 2009. Some members of the team also met with political parties in the afternoon of the same day. The meeting with the Parliament of Ethiopia took place on Monday 7th September 2009. Box 1: CRM Consultations during the Country Review Mission The National Governing Commission printed only few copies of the historic self-assessment report. Stakeholders had to contend with duplicated summaries of the CSAR. This was frustrating not only to stakeholders but also to the CRM. Despite this constraint, the CRM held an interactive session. The high level of representation at the consultative and interactive meetings is noteworthy. Commendably, all the stakeholder groups were very candid in their assessment of the governance challenges facing the country. At the prompting of the CRM, institutions such as the Federal Ethics and Anti-Corruption Body and United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) made written submissions to the Mission. The CRM also noted an assertion by the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), the main opposition party in Parliament, that there were irregularities and methodological bias in the self-assessment process. However, only two members of the 23-member National Governing Council agreed with this preposition on the CSAR. The Representative of the UEDF voted against the adoption of the CSAR while the representatives of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement Party, another opposition party in Parliament, abstained from voting. Source: Compiled by the CRM, September 2009. - 45 -