Ethiopia’s ruling party wins another large majority in parliament

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's Prosperity Party won 438 seats in the 547-seat lower house of parliament, according to results released by the  National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) on Sunday.

The party needed 274 seats to secure a majority in the chamber, where not all seats were in the running, as there was no election in the northern Tigray region and some parts of Amhara.

Organisers had cited "unfavourable conditions" in the aftermath of a two-year civil war and amid continuing political turmoil.

Prosperity Party candidates campaigned on the government's economic record, citing improved food security and economic growth.

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The party had been expected to win against a fragmented opposition, which has accused the federal government of undermining them through the arrest of their leaders and legal obstacles to their political activities, charges the government has denied.

Abiy created the Prosperity Party after he was appointed in 2018, following mass protests against the long-ruling EPRDF, an often unwieldy, multi-party coalition that governed Ethiopia for more than a quarter-century.

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Since then Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for ending hostilities with neighbouring Eritrea, has consolidated his grip on national politics even as he has faced violent opposition.

(with Reuters)