Ethiopia holds elections day with a strong military presence

Polling stations opened Monday in Ethiopia with a heavy security presence for the country's sixth general and regional elections, in which Ethiopians will vote for members of parliament to choose the next prime minister. 

As of 06:00 local time (03:00 GMT), Ethiopians could be seen lining up at polling stations in the capital Addis Ababa, which has more than 44,000 polling stations nationwide.

The heavy presence of members of the Armed Forces, equipped with heavy weapons and military vehicles, as well as the police riot Police patrolling the city, has generated an atmosphere of unease among voters in the early hours of voting, which, however, has been carried out without incident so far.

For these elections, only 37.4 million voters have registered, a very low figure for the second most populous country on the African continent, with some 110 million inhabitants.

On the eve of the elections, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed urged the population to vote on Facebook and assured that the government had implemented measures to ensure the security of voters on election day.

"I encourage all citizens to be vigilant when they go to vote tomorrow and I assure them that the government has made adequate investments and preparations for a peaceful and democratic election day," he said.

The election day security plan includes the deployment of the Ethiopian army, federal and regional police forces, as well as the use of satellite monitoring systems and drones.

Samson Tadesse, a 36-year-old voter who went out to cast his ballot in the Ethiopian capital today, believes that these elections are very important for the stability of the nation.

"These elections are very important because the country needs stability now more than ever. We need a stable government with a full mandate," Tadesse told Efe from his place in line to vote.

These elections are the first test before the polls for the current prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, since he came to power in 2018, and are being held this Monday after being postponed twice, first due to COVID-19 and then due to logistical problems, according to the authorities. 

Although they have been billed as the most democratic elections in the country's history, they are being held under the shadow of the conflict in the northern Tigray region, against which the federal government has been on the offensive since early November, and inter-ethnic violence in other parts of Ethiopia.

The democratic credibility of the elections has also been called into question following the boycott by the two main opposition parties in the Oromia region in protest at the imprisonment of their leaders.

In addition, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced the postponement until September of the elections in at least the two entire regions of Harari and Somali (in addition to dozens of districts in other regions), due to irregularities and security problems.

Also in Tigray, where the armed conflict has already left thousands dead and almost two million internally displaced, the population will not vote today and no election date has yet been set for the region.

These three regions account for a total of 63 seats, which will remain empty for the time being, out of the total of 547 members of the lower house of the federal parliament.