In the June 1, 2026, elections, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed secured a resounding victory that cements his hold on power despite the nation's severe security challenges. His Prosperity Party won an absolute majority in parliament and is preparing to form a new government for a five-year term.
According to the National Election Board, the party took 438 of the 501 contested seats in the lower house of parliament, accounting for 87 percent of the results. Voter turnout exceeded 50 million people. Parliament will form the new government in October 2026, when Abiy Ahmed is set to be officially re-elected as prime minister for another five-year term.
The elections took place against a backdrop of conflict and allegations that dissent was being stifled. Opposition parties faced significant obstacles: their leaders were either imprisoned or in exile, and many of the ruling party's opponents were barred from the electoral process. On election day, 143 polling stations in the Amhara and Oromia regions failed to open due to security issues caused by armed conflicts in those areas. The entire Tigray region, which is only just recovering from the 2020–2022 civil war, was completely excluded from the vote.
Local armed groups have either rejected or disregarded the election results. The Fano militia in Amhara, which has controlled extensive territories since 2023, and the outlawed Oromo Liberation Army are continuing their insurgencies, demanding greater regional autonomy. In Tigray, tensions flared once more after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front attempted to reinstate a regional administration, a move that violated the 2022 peace agreement.
Abiy Ahmed, who once enjoyed international acclaim, came to power in April 2018 following a wave of mass protests against the country's autocratic regime. His early actions were met with praise; in 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to normalize relations with Eritrea, ending a twenty-year border conflict by signing a peace treaty. However, his centralizing policies and the weakening of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front—the party that had historically dominated Ethiopian politics—soon triggered a major political crisis that devolved into civil war in Tigray.
Despite his re-election, the threat of new major conflicts remains high across the country. Armed clashes in Amhara and Oromia show no signs of subsiding, and the risk of escalation in Tigray persists. While the ruling party touts economic growth as its primary achievement—with official forecasts predicting over 10 percent in 2026—this growth has yet to resolve issues of regional security and the political marginalization of ethnic groups within Ethiopia’s federal system.
Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Africa and is located in the Horn of Africa. It borders Kenya to the south, Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. As the only major African power without sea access, the nation depends on the ports of neighboring countries, primarily Djibouti, which handles more than 90 percent of Ethiopian trade. Following the peace deal with Eritrea in 2018, Abiy Ahmed promised to restore access to Eritrean ports, but this remains an unresolved issue given current tensions.
