Ethiopian prime minister gets re-term after party wins parliamentary vote
ADDIS ABABA – Abiy Ahmed will serve as Prime Minister of Ethiopia for another five years, following the landslide victory of the Prosperity Party in the recently concluded parliamentary elections, the results of which were officially announced on Saturday by Ethiopia’s National Election Council. [NEBE].
According to NEBE, the Prosperity Party won 410 seats out of the 436 available. Dozens of other seats will remain vacant; a fifth of the constituencies did not vote for reasons of unrest or logistics. Ethiopia’s new government is expected to be formed in October, reports Voice of America.
The vote was a major test for Abiy, who came to power in 2018 after the former prime minister resigned amid widespread protests. Abiy oversaw dramatic political reforms that led in part to a Nobel Peace Prize the following year, but critics say he is backtracking on political and media freedoms.
Abiy has also drawn massive international criticism for his handling of the conflict in the Tigray region which has claimed thousands of lives.
The June vote, which had been postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic and logistical concerns, was largely peaceful, but opposition parties denounced the harassment and intimidation. No vote took place in the Tigray region.
Abiy hailed the election as the nation’s first attempt at a free and fair vote, but the United States called it “significantly flawed,” citing the detention of some opposition figures and the insecurity in parts of Africa’s second most populous country.
The leader of the main opposition Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice party, Berhanu Nega, lost as the opposition parties won just 11 seats. The Ethiopian Citizens Social Justice Party lodged 207 complaints with the electorate about the vote.
Popular opposition parties in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest federal state, boycotted the elections. The ruling party ran alone in several dozen constituencies.
The head of the electoral council, Birtukan Mideksa, said in Saturday’s announcement that the vote took place at a time when Ethiopia was struggling, “but this voting process ensured that people will be ruled by their own. votes “.
She added: “I want to confirm that we succeeded in having a credible election.”
The turnout was just over 90% among the more than 37 million people who registered to vote.
Voting in the Somali region has been delayed until September due to security concerns and ballot issues.
And no date has been set for the vote in Tigray, where the army is fighting forces loyal to the TPLF.
The Prosperity Party was formed after the dismantling of the old ruling coalition in Ethiopia, which had been dominated by politicians from Tigray. The disagreements over this decision signaled the first tensions between the leaders of Abiy and Tigray which ultimately led to conflict in the region in November.
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