Polls open in Ethiopia, but not everyone can vote

Here is the latest breaking news from around the world: Polls open in Ethiopia, but not everyone can vote4 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on GoogleKaleb MogesBBC AfricaAFP via Getty ImagesPolls have opened in Ethiopia's general election as conflict rages in parts of the country, meaning many people will not be able to vote. In fact, the whole northern region of Tigray, which has been trying to recover from a brutal civil war that ended in 2022, has been totally excluded from the poll. It is the seventh election since the downfall of the military regime in 1991 - an upheaval that led to Eritrea's secession two years later - and it takes place as Ethiopia's relations with its northern neighbour are once again dangerously fraught.

The media is tightly regulated and many organisations, including the , have not been given press accreditation. Who is likely to win? Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed - although he is not directly elected.

The Details

Voters elect representatives to the 547-member parliament and the party that secures at least 274 seats earns the right to form the next government to lead the country for the next five years. Abiy, 49, came to power in 2018 following widespread anti-government protests against the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition - dominated by politicians from Tigray - that had ruled since 1991. He went on to dissolve the EPRDF, of which he was a part, and replace it with his Prosperity Party, a more centralised and less federal form of governing.

via Getty ImagesAbiy Ahmed was once hailed as a champion of democracy and press freedomProf Merera Gurdina, a veteran opposition politician and member of the Oromo Federalist Congress, alleges the upcoming election is the least competitive in Ethiopia's recent history. "We are participating symbolically because the law says you cannot boycott elections consecutively. We are participating, mainly to avoid deregistration," he told the .

When Abiy first assumed office, he was hailed as a champion of democracy and press freedom after releasing hundreds of politicians and journalists from prison. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize mainly for bringing an end to the 20-year military stalemate with neighbouring Eritrea. Seven years later things could not be more different.

What Experts Say

How did Abiy blot his copybook? Critics accuse his government of suppressing dissent, forcing opponents into exile and arresting political rivals. Under Abiy's watch the government went to war in 2020 with Tigray's leaders in a two-year conflict estimated by the African Union's mediator to have killed some 600,000 people and which drove the region to the precipice of famine.

According to Reporters Without Borders' 2025 press freedom index, Ethiopia came 148 out of 180 countries. In its September 2025 publication, Human Rights Watch condemned Ethiopia's government for arbitrarily arresting journalists and media professionals and called for an end to the harassment of independent journalists.

The story has become one of the most prominent items on the global agenda.