Ethiopia election: Abiy Ahmed wins with huge majority

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has won the country's delayed elections with an overwhelming majority, the election board said today.

The board said Mr Abiy's Prosperity Party won 410 out of 436 seats, giving him another fiveyear term in office. Polls were not held in the wartorn Tigray region, where many thousands are living in famine conditions.

In all, a fifth of the country failed to take part in voting owing to insecurity and logistical problems.

Another round of elections has been provisionally scheduled for 6 September in the affected areas, but there is no date for a vote in Tigray.

The election had already been delayed due to the pandemic. Mr Abiy, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, described the vote as a "historically inclusive election" in a statement on Twitter. A new government is expected to be formed in

October. However, there are concerns about the election's integrity.

Opposition parties had complained that a government crackdown against their officials had disrupted their plans to prepare. Berhanu Nega said his party, Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice, had filed more than 200 complaints after observers in a number of regions were blocked by local officials and militiamen. Securing a parliamentary majority gives Prime Minister Abiy a governing mandate, but instead of celebration, the focus will quickly turn to how he will deal with mounting challenges.

The ruinous war in Tigray, in which he prematurely declared victory, has killed thousands of Ethiopians, displaced millions, and left hundreds of thousands facing famine. His government has also been accused of cutting power and blocking phone lines across the region, leaving hospitals to run on generators.

His unilateral declaration of a ceasefire has not been heeded by the Tigray rebel forces, who continue to fight Eritrean soldiers and Amhara militias.

This election win will do little to improve Mr Abiy's reputation in the eyes of the international community. His next moves will be closely watched at home and abroad. The state-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said there were "no serious or widespread human rights violations" in stations it observed.

However, in a preliminary report the EHRC said that some constituencies experienced "improper arrests", voter intimidation and "harassment" of observers and journalists. It also said it had observed several killings in the days leading up to the vote in the regional state of Oromia.

In May, the EU accused Ethiopia of failing to guarantee the independence of its election. The election was Mr Abiy's first electoral test since coming to power in 2018.