The election results

The National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced on Sunday that the ruling Prosperity Party won 438 of the 486 seats for which results were declared, after voting was not held in the Tigray region and at least eight constituencies in Amhara. With only 274 seats needed for a majority, the party's margin leaves Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in firm control of the 547-seat lower house when the new parliament opens between late September and early October. The result mirrors the 2021 election, when the Prosperity Party also won more than 90% of available seats.

“unfavourable conditions”

Abiy Ahmed's ascendancy

Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 after mass protests against the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition that had governed for more than a quarter-century. He dissolved the EPRDF the following year and formed the Prosperity Party, consolidating his grip on national politics. Internationally, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending the border conflict with Eritrea. Domestically, he initially freed journalists and political prisoners, but human rights groups now accuse his government of detaining dissidents and shutting down civil society.

Voting shutdowns and security crises

No election took place in Tigray, where a two-year civil war between federal forces and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (2020–2022) caused catastrophic casualties. French state media puts the death toll at 600,000, with about a million people still displaced. Although a 2022 peace deal halted the conflict, the region's main political party moved in May 2026 to reassert control over the regional administration in violation of the agreement, prompting Ethiopian officials to warn of fresh unrest. Elsewhere, insurgencies persist: the Oromo Liberation Army in Oromia has killed hundreds, and the Fano militia has captured large parts of the Amhara countryside since 2023. The electoral board said 15 constituencies across three regional states will require a re-run.

Economic promises

The Prosperity Party campaigned on a platform of improved food security and accelerating economic growth. The government projects GDP expansion above 10% in 2026, making Ethiopia one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. More than 50 million citizens registered to vote. Opposition parties, fragmented and weakened, accused the federal government of arresting their leaders and creating legal obstacles, charges the authorities denied.

What comes next

With 90% of the declared seats, the new chamber will almost certainly re-elect Abiy Ahmed when the parliamentary session begins in the autumn. The vote for the prime minister is scheduled for late September or early October. Abiy, now 49 or according to some reports 50, will then serve another five-year term as head of Africa's second-most populous nation, even as large parts of the country remain beyond the ballot box.