With the participation of 50 million voters…this is how Ethiopia prepares for the elections policy

Al Jazeera correspondents

Addis Ababa – Ethiopia is preparing to hold the seventh general elections on June 1, amid extensive political and logistical preparations, in one of the largest electoral processes on the African continent.

The National Elections Council announced that more than 50 million voters had registered to participate in the vote, including about 27.3 million men and 23.1 million women, a notable increase compared to the 2021 elections in which about 37 million voters participated.

Elections are being held to choose 547 members of the federal parliament, in addition to hundreds of seats in the regional councils, through more than 48,000 polling stations distributed across the country, while the National Elections Council paid about 195,000 employees to support the electoral process, with more than one billion birr (about 6.2 million dollars) allocated to cover workers’ dues, in addition to about 81 million birr (about 502 thousand dollars) to support the participating political parties.

The elections witness the participation of 47 political parties and 73 independent candidates, led by the ruling Prosperity Party led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in addition to national and regional political parties and alliances, including the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice Party (ESIMA), the largest opposition party, in addition to the Amhara National Movement, the Mother Party, and the Freedom and Equality Party, in addition to multi-national alliances seeking to strengthen their presence in parliament and regional councils.

The future of the federal system

In the midst of preparations for the elections, the political debate continues about the future of the federal system and the nature of the state, amid clear differences in the positions of political parties regarding the current federal experience in light of the escalation of internal debate about the nature of the state and mechanisms for managing national diversity.

The head of the Freedom and Equality Party (opposition), Abdul Qadir Adam, said that his party believes that the federal system is the best and most appropriate for Ethiopia, given that the country includes wide ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. He pointed out in his interview with Al Jazeera Net that there are problems within the system related to the rights of minorities, the distribution of wealth and power, and the relationship between the regions and the federal government.

He added that his party hopes that the upcoming national dialogue will lead to constitutional amendments that address these problems.

For his part, the leader of the Ezima Party, the largest opposition party, Ayoub Mesavent, criticized the existing federal system, considering that it contributed to creating security, political, and economic chaos within the country. He said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the primary goal of federalism is to build a political system that unites citizens more than it divides them. However, the Ethiopian experience produced adverse results, calling for the complete abolition of the federal system.

As for the ruling Prosperity Party, it defended the federal system, as the head of international relations and the party’s official spokesman, Bekla Haurisa, said that the party believes that federalism represents an appropriate and viable solution for a country characterized by broad national pluralism such as Ethiopia, acknowledging at the same time in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that there are gaps and weaknesses within the current system, which must be addressed through constitutional mechanisms and comprehensive national dialogue.

The nature of the distribution of the Ethiopian Parliament

The Ethiopian political system is based on national federalism, which was approved under the 1994 constitution, following the fall of the Mengistu Haile Mariam regime. The distribution of parliamentary seats depends on population density, with the Oromia region leading with 178 seats, followed by the Amhara region with 138 seats, then the southern Ethiopia region with 54 seats, and the central Ethiopia region with 36 seats.

Also, 23 seats were allocated to the Somali Region and the city of Addis Ababa, 19 seats to the Sidama Region, 14 seats to the Peoples’ Region of Southwest Ethiopia, 9 seats to the Benishangul Region, 8 seats to the Afar Region, 3 seats to the Gambella Region, and 2 seats each to the Harar Region and the city of Dire Dawa.

As for the Tigray region, which has 38 seats in the federal parliament, it will not participate in the current elections, after the National Elections Council suspended the participation of the Tigray Front Party, due to the party not meeting the required legal conditions.