 He stated that no matter how democratic they claimed to be in public, the older groups had the remnants of the old leftist Ethiopian movement as opposed to the 1990s democratic school of thought his party developed.Lidetu played a leading role in bringing about the limited rights opposition parties enjoyed leading to the 2005 Ethiopian Election.In the days leading to this election, people from the Derg and EPRP era joined Lidetu's opposition struggle through the formation of CUD.