The politics of Ethiopia are the activities associated with the governance of Ethiopia. The government is structured as a federal parliamentary republic with both a President and Prime Minister. The legislature is multicameral, with a house of representatives and a council. The term politics of Ethiopia mainly relates to the political activities in Ethiopia after the late 20th century when democratization took place in the nation. The current political structure of Ethiopia was formed after the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) overthrew dictator President Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. A general election was held in June 1994 and Ethiopia has maintained a multiparty political environment until today.
Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian former politician and former military officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, the Marxist-Leninist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front was an ethnic federalist political coalition in Ethiopia that existed from 1988 to 2019. It consisted of four political parties: Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), Amhara Democratic Party (ADP), Oromo Democratic Party (ODP) and Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). After leading the overthrow of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it dominated Ethiopian politics from 1991 to 2019. In November 2019, the EPRDF was dissolved, and Prime Minister and EPDRF chairman Abiy Ahmed merged three of the constituent parties into his new Prosperity Party, which was officially founded on 1 December 2019.
The Tigray People's Liberation Front, also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government during the Tigray War until its removal from the list in 2023. In older and less formal texts and speech it is known as Woyane or Weyané.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, Abbreviated ONLF; Somali: Jabhadda Waddaniga Xoreynta Ogaadeeniya, Abbrieviated JAWXO; Arabic: الجبهة الوطنية لتحرير أوجادين, romanized: Al-Jabhat al-wataniat litahrir 'Awjadin, Abbreviated ALJAWLA, is a Somali politico-military organization which aims for the right to Self-determination of the Somali People in the Ogaden or the Somali Region under the control of Ethiopia.
General Waqo Gutu Usu was an Ethiopian revolutionary and leader of one of the earlier Oromo resistance fighter movements; the Bale Revolt, which in the 1960s had fought against the feudalistic system in place in the Ethiopian Empire. He was elected chairman of the United Liberation Forces of Oromia in 2000. In 2006, Gutu died in a Nairobi hospital, survived by 20 sons and 17 daughters.
The Oromo Liberation Front is an Oromo nationalist political party formed in 1973 to promote self-determination for the Oromo people inhabiting today's Oromia Region and Oromia Zone in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. The OLF has offices in Addis Ababa, Washington, D.C., and Berlin, from which it operates radio stations that broadcast in Amharic and Oromo.
General elections were held in Ethiopia on 7 and 18 May 1995 for seats in its Council of People's Representatives; elections in the Afar, Somali, and Harari Regions were delayed until 28 June to assign experienced personnel who could solve possible conflicts and irregularities. This was the first regular multi-party election in Ethiopian history, and the first election since the adoption of a permanent constitution the previous December. Several opposition parties boycotted the election, including the All-Amhara People's Organization, Council of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia, and Ethiopian Democratic Unity Party.
Ababiya Abajobir is the founding member of the separatist organization Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). He served the OLF in many leading positions, including as Head of OLF's Foreign Affairs in Washington from 2000 to 2003.
Tesfaye Dinka Yadessa was an Ethiopian politician who was Minister of Finance (1983–1986), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–1991), and Prime Minister of Ethiopia. He was the head of the delegation of the Ethiopian Government during the London Conference of 1991 which aimed to end the Ethiopian Civil War.
Elections for a Constituent Assembly were held in Ethiopia on 5 June 1994 in order to form a body to draw up a new constitution. They were the first elections after the overthrow of the Mengistu regime at the end of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991, and the first ever multi-party elections in the country; previous elections had either been non-partisan or one-party. The results saw the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front and its allies win 463 of the 544 seats. Voter turnout was 87.5%.
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. During the transitional period, Meles Zenawi served as the president of the TGE while Tamrat Layne was prime minister. Among other major shifts in the country's political institutions, it was under the authority of the TGE that the realignment of provincial boundaries on the basis of ethnolinguistic identity occurred. The TGE was in power until 1995, when it transitioned into the reconstituted Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia that remains today.
Lencho Letta is an Ethiopian politician and Oromo activist who was founding member of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). He was the Deputy Secretary General of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) from 1974 to 1995. In Late 1990s, Lencho left OLF leadership due to ideological differences. He is currently the leader of Oromo Democratic front, which was formed in 2013.
The Oromo conflict is a protracted conflict between the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ethiopian government. The Oromo Liberation Front formed to fight the Ethiopian Empire to liberate the Oromo people and establish an independent state of Oromia. The conflict began in 1973, when Oromo nationalists established the OLF and its armed wing, the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). These groups formed in response to prejudice against the Oromo people during the Haile Selassie and Derg era, when their language was banned from public administration, courts, church and schools, and the stereotype of Oromo people as a hindrance to expanding Ethiopian national identity.
Tigrayan nationalism is an ethnic nationalism that advocates the interests of Tigrayan people in Ethiopia. Inspired predominantly by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) with its predecessor Tigray Liberation Front (TLF), this type of nationalism holds that Tigrayans are an independent group with unique ancestry, heritage, history and culture outside Ethiopia. As such, they claim Tigray is the source of Ethiopian civilization and utterly a benefactor of state-building without other local ethnic groups. Tigrayan nationalists accuse Amharas of imposing their cultural, economic and political hegemony over Tigrayans.
The fallof the Derg was a military campaign that resulted in the defeat of the ruling Marxist–Leninist military junta, the Derg, by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered from insurgency with different factions, and separatist rebel groups since their early rule, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization made the Derg unpopular with the majority of Ethiopians tending to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
Oromo nationalism is an ethnic nationalism advocating the self-interest of Oromo people in Ethiopia and Kenya. Many Oromo elites, intellectuals and political leaders struggled to create an independent Oromia state throughout 19th and 20th century, since the start of Abyssinian colonialism under Emperor Menelik II. No consensus has been reached yet regarding the motives of this type of nationalism, whether the Oromos librate themselves to form a nation-state or offer self-determination in federal Ethiopia.
On 23 June 2018, a large popular pro-government rally at Meskel Square for the support of political reform of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, was attacked by an assailant using a grenade. The grenade exploded just 17 metres away from the stage. Shortly afterwards, the assailant was taken away by security officials. The attack was the first attempted assassination of an Ethiopian national leader in modern Ethiopian history, after similar incidents during Haile Selassie and Derg era.
Amharization is a process of making dominance of Amhara traditions, culture and language above other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. During the Imperial rule, Amhara enjoyed greater influence, from imposing Amharic language and culture to dominate the Ethiopian politics. Amhara elites also aspired to build Ethiopian nation. Amhara dominance has been since during the Derg era until 1991.
