No timetable has ever been drafted and adopted concerning implementing legislation and statutes regarding political parties and elections. Independent political parties authorized by the constitution are not yet registered. In 1999 the war with Ethiopia provided a useful rationale for the government to continue to keep this issue unresolved. The rights of citizens to select their leadership and to associate are, in practice, seriously limited. Many inside and outside the government argue that in the current context, emphasis must be placed on maintaining domestic unity and consensus.
Parties based on ethnicity or religion are to be barred.
Eritrea s political culture places priority on group interests over those of the individual. This view has been forged in part by years of struggle against outside occupiers and austere attachment to Marxist principles. Eritrea s aggressive foreign policy has contributed significantly to regional instability and to a sense of victimization among Eritreans, which in turn affords a rationale for continued strong central government control. The new constitution s guarantees of civil and political liberties are unrealized as pluralistic media and rights to political organization continue to be absent. A judiciary was formed by decree in 1993 and has yet to adopt positions that are significantly at variance with government perspectives.