Polls opened in Ethiopia on Monday for elections that are widely expected to see Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party (PP) extend its rule.
Voting began at 6 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) with citizens forming long queues to make their voices heard at the ballot. In the national capital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopians voted amid a heavy military presence.
Voters will select more than 500 members of the House of Representatives who will subsequently vote to select a prime minister.
About 50 million people of the 130 million-strong nation are registered to vote. However, no election is taking place in the northern region of Tigray due to an ongoing conflict between regional and federal authorities.
An election with little opposition
Prime Minister Abiy’s PP is expected to secure a majority of the seats, paving the way for his third term in office.
In power since 2018, 49-year-old Abiy won 96% of the seats in the 2021 election.
Meanwhile, the opposition is divided among more than 40 parties and running on low financial resources. In several constituencies, the PP is running unopposed.
Opposition parties and analysts have warned that this election will be even less open than previous democratic exercises, as the opposition and the country remain divided over internal conflicts and ethnic differences.
Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for mending relations with neighboring Eritrea in his early years of power, has faced growing criticism for authoritarian practices and a crackdown on dissent.
Democracy strained by internal conflicts
The election is “likely to be among the least competitive of the seven national elections held since multiparty democracy was introduced in 1991,” Ahmed Soliman and Abel Abate Demissie of the Chatham House think tank wrote last week.
“Many challengers to the ruling PP will not contest the elections,” Chatham House noted. “Some are in exile, some are banned, some are imprisoned, and many may see little incentive to abandon their armed struggle against the government. This severely constrained political landscape and election process at best resembles an elite bargain.”
Ethiopia’s economy remains a bright spot in the continent as one of the world’s fastest-growing nations. However, internal conflicts in Tigray and two of the country’s most populous states – Oromia and Amhara – have strained the democracy.
National reconciliation emerged as one of the key themes pre-election, along with the government’s pledge to undertake major development projects. Opposition parties focused on social justice and strengthening democratic institutions.
