Ethiopians will head to the polls on Monday for parliamentary and regional elections, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ruling party widely expected to secure a dominant victory despite ongoing unrest in several parts of the country.
Abiy, 49, has tightened his grip on Ethiopia’s political landscape since coming to power in 2018 following mass protests against the long-ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition
Over 50 million of Ethiopia’s 120 million people are registered to vote in the elections. Results are expected by June 11.
Prosperity Party candidates have campaigned on the government’s economic record, and cite improved food security in a country that has experienced several famines in the past.
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The government projects economic growth of over 10% in 2026, one of the fastest rates in Africa.
Economists have credited Abiy’s moves to liberalise its tightly controlled economy with boosting investment and export earnings.
NEW ANIMOSITY WITH ERITREA
Abiy received widespread praise at home and globally after taking power for freeing journalists, activists and other political prisoners and revoking bans on many political parties. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending hostilities with neighbouring Eritrea.
But his opponents and human rights activists accuse his government of reversing those gains in recent years by detaining journalists and shutting down civil society groups.
U.N. investigators, foreign governments and human rights groups have alleged atrocities during military campaigns to put down civil unrest.
The government has denied systematic human rights abuses and said its actions are necessary to protect national security.
The rapprochement with Eritrea for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize has given way to fresh animosity in the past few years, in part over repeated declarations by Abiy that landlocked Ethiopia has a right to sea access.
Eritrea, which won its independence from Ethiopia in 1993, has viewed the comments as an implicit threat of military aggression.
Abiy has said that although sea access is an “existential” matter for Ethiopia, he intends to pursue it through dialogue.
