Tango-Tiger

Ethiopia elections 2021: Abiy Ahmed faces first vote amid conflict



Ethiopians are voting in key elections amid rising tensions and a bloody conflict in the northern Tigray region.

This pandemic-delayed poll is Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's first electoral test since coming to power in 2018.

He hopes to secure a popular mandate by winning a majority of the federal parliament's 547 seats. ทดลองเล่นสล็อตฟรีทุกค่าย

But the vote has been postponed in Tigray, where the army has been fighting a regional force since November.

Voting has also been delayed in some other parts of the country because of security concerns and logistical problems. Overall, elections will not be taking place for now in about a fifth of constituencies.

The general election, the first since 2015, was originally slated for August 2020 but was rescheduled because of coronavirus.

Under the initial election timetable, preliminary results from constituencies are to be announced within five days of the election, while final certified results are to be announced within 23 days.

Why are these elections so important?
Mr Abiy came to power in 2018 as the nominee of the then-ruling coalition but he has never faced the electorate.

He rose to the top job on the back of protests against the government dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and embarked on shaking up the country.

In the last election, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition and its allies won all the seats but Mr Abiy has dissolved the coalition and created a new party - the Prosperity Party - in an attempt to reduce ethnic division. The TPLF, however, did not join.