Ethiopia set for June election as country battles bloody Tigray conflict & famine

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 07:58 am

June 21 is reserved for election in Ethiopia even as the African country battles out a bloody and long conflict in the Tigray region and reports of famine in the region. This is leading to escalated tensions between Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic groups. The elections were initially scheduled for August 2020 but had to be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

This election would be the first since 2018 when Abiy Ahmed took on the office of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister. This would be his first electoral test since he pledged to end repression taking office in April 2018. Abiy Ahmed took office in backdrop of rising conflict against TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front), embarking the country to era of conflict. 

People of Ethiopia will vote to elect 547 members of Parliament. Leader of victorious party will emerge as the new prime minister of Ethiopia. There are already rising concerns over the integrity of these elections.

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Coming to power as prime minister, Abiy Ahmed took certain remarkable decisions marking onset of his tenure. This included clamping down corruption, releasing of political prisoners, and appointment of more women in his cabinet. Ahmed also achieved making peace with neighboring Eritrea after a border war in 1998-2000 that had left thousands of people on both sides dead.

His zeal of bringing reform and peace in region led him to win Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. But just a year later he pursued war through military operation in Tigray region. He deployed large number of troops in the northern province of Ethiopia in an attempt to take down ruling TPLF in region. This was in aftermath of TPLF seizing military bases in what Abiy Ahmed saw an attempt of overthrowing him from the power. 

The conflict in Tigray since November 2020 has quickly turned into a humanitarian crisis with thousands of people dead and millions displaced to escape the bloody war. Reports of mass hunger, targeted killing of Tigrayans, abuse of women and children and looming famine has brought Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis to forefront as the biggest ongoing crisis in recent times. 

The election will include candidates from 40 parties, but mostly are regional. Over 9000 candidates are competing in regional and federal races, said the National Election Board of Ethiopia.