repressive elections in Ethiopia

http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/24/ethiopia-government-repression-undermines-poll

when reading this article about the ways the Ethiopian government intimidated the voters during the recent election I came across this:

"The May poll was the first national parliamentary election in Ethiopia since the government violently suppressed post-election protests in 2005; almost 200 people, including several police officers, died after the 2005 poll and tens of thousands of people were arrested, including opposition leaders, journalists and civil society activists."

then i read a bit more about it on everybodys favourite source, wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_general_election,_2005

Ethiopia held general elections on May 15, 2005, for seats in both its national and in four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic nation; international elections observers from the European Union (EU) and the U.S.-based Carter Center were present to observe the results. This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period.

it doesnt talk much about the protests after but as soon as i read about protests after fraudulent elections i thought of it being another place where a colour revolution successfully didnt occur.
and i cant seem to find any reasons why this is the case?
bessinger and way both talk about ties with the west as being a big help and these were there. there was organised movement after?

anyone have any ideas why this was the case?