During 2005 Ethiopian general election, the CUD under Hailu's leadership was able to win 137 out of 138 seats of the Addis Ababa city council and 109 seats in the federal parliament. The result was disputed both by the ruling EPRDF and CUD. Following the dispute and alleged voting irregularities Observers from the European Union assessed that closing and counting processes negatively in almost half of urban polling stations, counting was slow, a remarkably high number of ballots were ruled invalid, and there was a lack of transparency in the results. The situation deteriorated further as the negotiation between EPRDF and CUD fall apart and finally on late October 2005, protest erupted across the country against the ruling party.