Ethiopia held elections for dozens of federal parliamentary seats, the last round before a new cabinet will be formed due October 4. According to electoral board spokeswoman Solyana Shimeles, the 47 elections are being held in the Harari, Somali, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) areas.
The outcomes of Thursday’s races will have a great impact on the balance of power in parliament, will not be known until at least October 10. No date has been fixed for the remaining 36 seats, which include and eight in Oromia and 18 in the Amhara region The war between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebel organization and government troops has scarred Amhara, while the Oromo Liberation Army is fighting an insurgency in Oromia (OLA).
In southwestern Ethiopia, over 900,000 eligible voters are to vote in a referendum on whether to pull away from the SNNP and form their region, a move aimed at bringing more federal funds to an area plagued by years of lack of investment. Abiy came to office in 2018 after several years of anti-government rallies, with a promise to break Ethiopia’s authoritarian past by holding the country’s most democratic elections ever.
Ethiopia held historic national elections in June, with Abiy’s Prosperity Party sweeping the board, gaining 410 of the 436 seats. However, no polling took place in the northernmost Tigray area, which has been the scene of deadly fighting since November, and 83 other elections were postponed owing to logistical or security concerns.
In the two previous elections, the ruling coalition that preceded Abiy claimed massive majorities, though observers say didn’t meet the international requirements for fairness. Some opposition parties, especially in Abiy’s home area of Oromia, chose to ban the elections this year, arguing that their candidates had been jailed and their offices destroyed. The Somali region’s major opposition party announced its withdrawal earlier this month, alleging possible errors in voter registration.