Polls Open in Ethiopia’s Parliamentary Elections, as PM Abiy Contends for a New Term

Abiy, who has been in charge since 2018, has been attacked for increasing authoritarianism and a crackdown on dissent, in contrast to his early years in authority, when he earned the Nobel Peace Prize for healing relations with neighboring Eritrea.

Opposition groups and observers fear that with the opposition in disarray and the country experiencing various internal crises and ethnic divisions, this election would be much less transparent than past ones.

The poll 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 research tank said last week.

Abiy’s PP won 96% of the seats in the 2021 election. The opposition is operating with little financial means and is divided into almost 40 parties. In dozens of constituencies, the ruling party faces no opposition.

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