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Ethiopia will hold its parliamentary elections on June 5 next year, the National Electoral Board said on Friday, after elections scheduled for August 2020 were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party, a pan-Ethiopian movement that he established a year ago, faces opposition from increasingly strident ethnically-based parties seeking more sovereignty for the regions they represent.
Ethiopia, the second most populous nation in Africa with some 110 million citizens, has a federal system and 10 regional governments, many of which have border disputes or are experiencing unrest.
Tigray stresses
In fact, the delay in the vote was a factor that led to tensions between Abiy and the breakaway area of Tigray, which finally saw the prime minister send troops to the region last month in a military offensive that left thousands dead and led to dozens. of thousands of people to search. refuge.
Tigray held its own elections in September in defiance of the federal government, which declared voting illegal.
Abiy, who came to power in 2018 and won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, had promised free, fair and democratic elections for the vote that should have taken place on August 29.
The mandate of parliament and Abiy was due to expire in October, but was extended due to the pandemic.
you / csb (AFP, Reuters)
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