Ruling coalition dominates Ethiopian general election

By Tesfa Mogessieto 

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia 

Ethiopia’s ruling coalition won 500 of the 547 seats in the country's federal parliament.

The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front is a coalition of four parties: TPLF (Tigray), OPDO (Oromia), ANDM (Amhara) and SEPDM (South Ethiopia Peoples’ Regional State).

The final result was announced Monday by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE).

The five parties allied to EPRDF took the remaining 46 seats. Only one constituency is yet to declare as polls were delayed in that area.

According to the NEBE, no opposition party won a parliamentary seat.

The next five-year term of parliament will therefore be entirely dominated by the EPRDF and its allies.

The allied parties are the Somali Peoples’ Democratic Party that won 24 seats, the Benishangul Gumuz People’s Democratic Party (9 seats), the Afar National Democratic Party (8 seats), the Gambella People’s Unity Democratic Movement (three seats), the Harari National League (1 seat) and the Argoba Peoples’ Democratic Organization (one seat).

The EPRDF and its allies also swept all 1,987 seats available in the regional state council elections.

The outgoing parliament contained one independent and one opposition candidate.

Major opposition political parties such as the Blue Party (Semayawi party) and Medrek (Forum for Democracy and Justice) had previously declared that they rejected both the process and result of the general election.

Voting was held on May 24 and the turnout was 34.8 million, 93 percent of the total eligible voters registered.

At the announcement of the final result at the Hilton Hotel, NEBE President Professor Merga Bekana said: “The election was conducted in a democratic and orderly manner.”

The elections were also observed by the African Union Election Observation Mission, a 59-strong team of observers led by former Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba. The mission is expected to release its final report soon.