Originally known as the Southern Ethiopia Peoples Democratic Front, the SEPDM was founded in 1992.[2]Muferiat Kamil has been Chair of the SEPDM since 25 June 2018, replacing the previous chairman Shiferaw Shigute.
In the August 2005 Regional assembly elections, the party won 271 out of 348 seats in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region (SNNPR).[3] The SEPDM announced 13 December 2007 that in the next election cycle that they would field 790,000 candidates for races for offices in woreda and kebele councils, town administration and the House of Peoples' Representatives.[4] In the 2008 by-elections, the SEPDM won 10 seats in the SNNPR regional assembly, all 850 seats up for election in the 13 Zones of the SNNPR, control of 123 woredas and 20 towns.[5]
In November 2019, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front Chairman unified the constituent parties of the coalition into a new Prosperity Party.[6]
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.
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 Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region was a regional state in southwestern Ethiopia. It was formed from the merger of five kililoch, called Regions 7 to 11, following the regional council elections on 21 June 1992. Its government was based in Hawassa.
Under the current constitution, Ethiopia conducts local, regional, and federal elections. At the federal level, Ethiopia elects a legislature. The Federal Parliamentary Assembly has two chambers: the House of People's Representatives with not more than 550 members as per the constitution but actually nearly 547 members, elected for five-year terms in single-seat constituencies; and the Council of the Federation with 117 members, one each from the 22 minority nationalities, and one from each professional sector of its remaining nationalities, designated by the regional councils, which may elect them themselves or through popular elections.
General elections were held in Ethiopia on 15 May 2005, for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and four regional government councils. Under pressure from the international community, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi promised that this election would be proof that more democracy would come in this multi-ethnic nation; international elections observers from the European Union (EU) and the U.S.-based Carter Center were present to observe the results. This election succeeded in attracting about 90% of the registered voters to the polls. A government ban on protests was imposed throughout the election period.
The Coalition for Unity and Democracy, commonly referred to by its English abbreviation CUD, or occasionally CDU, was a coalition of four existing political parties of Ethiopia which combined to compete for seats in the Ethiopian General Elections held on May 15, 2005, and around the end of that year, became a full-fledged political party. Its leader was Hailu Shawul and the political party was dissolved in 2007.
The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces was a coalition of several political parties in Ethiopia which combined to compete for seats in the Ethiopian general elections held on 15 May 2005.
The Oromo Democratic Party, formerly called the Oromo People's Democratic Organization, was a political party in Ethiopia, and part of the alliance with the Amhara National Democratic Movement, the South Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Front and the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front that formed the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In the August 2005 Regional assembly elections, the party won 387 out of 537 seats in the Oromia, and 14 out of 36 seats in the Harari Region.
The Afar National Democratic Party was a political party in Ethiopia. At the legislative elections held on 15 May 2005, the party won 8 seats, all from the Afar Region. The current Minister of Social Affairs and the Deputy Chairman of Pastoralist Affairs are members of the party.
The Benishangul Gumuz People's Democratic Unity Front was a political party in Ethiopia. In the 2010 elections, the BGPDUF won 9 seats. In local elections held the same day, the BGPDUF won 98 of the 99 seats in the Benishangul-Gumuz parliament.
The Gambela Peoples’ Democratic Movement, also known as the Gambela People’s Democratic Movement or Gambella Peoples’ Unity Democratic Movement, was a political party in the Gambela Region of Ethiopia. It was the regional ally of the ruling EPRDF coalition.
The Sheko and Mezenger People's Democratic Unity Organization is a political party in Ethiopia. At the last legislative elections, 15 May 2005, the party elected Kassahun Jarka Ziyatu to represent a district in the Bench Maji Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR).
The Somali Democratic Party, formerly the Ethiopian Somali People's Democratic Party, was a political party in Ethiopia, created by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) after refusing Somali demands for self-determination in 1993. The EPRDF created a surrogate party called the Ethiopian Somali Democratic League which was one of many satellite organisations existing throughout Ethiopia. The organisation was led by Ahmed Shide.
The Harari National League was a political party in Ethiopia. Its chairman, Ordeen Badri, was also president of the Harari Region.
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from 2010 to 2012. After Meles' death in August 2012, Hailemariam succeeded him as prime minister, initially in an acting capacity. He was then elected as the chair of the EPRDF, the ruling party, on 15 September 2012. Hailemariam also served as the chairperson of the African Union from 2013 to 2014.
Soro is one of the woredas in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Hadiya Zone, Soro consists large population of Hadiya and Danta dubamo people, bordered on the south by the Kembata Tembaro Zone, on the southwest by the Dawro Zone, on the west by the Omo River which separates it from the Oromia Region, on the north by Gomibora, on the northeast by Limo, and on the southeast by Duna. The administrative center of this woreda is Gimbichu; other towns in Soro include Jajura. Parts of Soro were separated to create Duna and Gomibora woredas.
General elections were held in Ethiopia on 14 May and 31 August 2000 for seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives and several regional government councils. Although several opposition parties boycotted the election, 17 parties including the All-Amhara People's Organization, the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition (SEPDC), and the Oromo National Congress did participate.
The Oromo People's Congress (OPC) was a federalist and Oromo nationalist opposition political party in Ethiopia. It was founded in April 1996 as the Oromo National Congress by Merera Gudina, who was its chairman. However, the party licence and name were allegedly given to a marginal splinter group by the National Election Board of Ethiopia in order to undermine the party and create confusion among the voters after the May 2005 election, so the party was forced to change its name to Oromo People's Congress prior to the 2008 by-elections. OPC merged with Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), forming the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), in 2012.
Ethiopia held nationwide elections for local offices in the kebele and woreda assemblies on 13 and 20 April 2008. By-elections were also held for seats in the Addis Ababa City Council, and in the national and regional parliaments that were vacant due to the Coalition for Unity and Democracy's (CUD) refusal to participate at the same time. By law, the local elections were supposed to be held as part of the 2005 general elections, but due to the resulting unrest they were postponed.
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.
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