Ethiopia will head to the polls on June 1 for its first nationwide elections for the reason that formal finish of the Tigray warfare, a devastating two-year battle from 2020 to 2022 that concluded with a peace settlement between the Ethiopian federal authorities and the Tigray Individuals’s Liberation Entrance (TPLF).
With a inhabitants of about 135 million, Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous nation and the tenth most populous on the earth.
Greater than 50.5 million voters have registered to take part within the vote, which is held each 5 years, with all 547 parliamentary seats up for grabs. Since 2018, the nation has been run by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose Prosperity Celebration holds 457 in another country’s 547 seats.
The Nationwide Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) is prone to announce the official outcomes on June 11.
Ethiopia at a look
Ethiopia is a landlocked nation within the Horn of Africa, overlaying an space of 1,104,300sq km (426,400sq miles) and bordered by Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia and Djibouti.
The nation has sustained notable financial progress over the previous 20 years, with the IMF projecting a 9.2 p.c growth in 2026, the best on the continent. But persistent challenges stay, together with excessive inflation (11.7 p.c as of April 2026), overseas change shortages, and the expensive burden of post-war reconstruction.
The nation has 5 official languages – Afar, Amharic, Oromo, Somali and Tigrinya. Roughly two-thirds of the inhabitants are Christian and one-third Muslim, with small communities of Ethiopian Jews and adherents of conventional faiths.
Ethiopia’s ethnic teams
The East African nation is likely one of the most ethnically numerous international locations on the earth, with greater than 80 distinct teams.
The Oromo are the biggest, making up about 35 p.c of the inhabitants, concentrated largely within the south and central areas. The Amhara are the second-largest, about 24 p.c, and have traditionally been the politically dominant group.
Different important teams embody the Somali (7 p.c), within the east; the Tigrayan (6 p.c), concentrated within the northern Tigray area; and the Sidama (4 p.c), within the southern highlands. Numerous different teams make up the remainder of the nation.
This variety is mirrored within the nation’s political construction. Ethiopia is subdivided into 12 regional states and two chartered cities (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa), every largely organised round a dominant ethnic group, a system launched in 1992 and formalised within the 1994 structure.
The map under exhibits the nation’s ethnic teams and areas.
Armed violence throughout the nation
Ethiopia has been in near-continuous battle since 2020, throughout a number of fronts:
Tigray (2020-22)
From 2020 to 2022, Ethiopian forces (ENDF) and their allies, together with Eritrean forces, fought the Tigray defence forces (TDF). The hostilities started in Tigray earlier than spreading to the neighbouring Afar and Amhara areas.
The warfare ended with the Pretoria peace settlement in November 2022, although the scenario stays fragile. In January 2026, clashes erupted once more in Tigray between the TPLF and Ethiopian authorities forces, threatening the delicate peace.
Oromia (2019-present)
Since 2019, battle between Oromia regional forces, the ENDF, and the Oromo Liberation Military (OLA) has killed 1000’s of civilians. The OLA, which seeks autonomy for ethnic Oromos, has additionally focused ethnic Amharas dwelling in Oromia and border areas. Regardless of a December 2024 peace settlement signed by the federal authorities and an OLA faction, authorities forces proceed to commit enforced disappearances and assaults on civilians, together with via air and drone assaults.
Amhara (2023-present)
Amhara militias fought alongside federal troops within the Tigray warfare, however that alliance collapsed when the federal authorities reached a peace cope with the TPLF. As Prime Minister Abiy moved to rein within the Amhara militias, relations deteriorated sharply. Preventing between the Amhara Fano self-defence power and federal forces has continued into 2026, with battle occasions recorded throughout greater than 31 districts spanning 11 zones within the Amhara area.
In line with Armed Battle Location & Occasion Knowledge (ACLED), an unbiased battle monitor, between January 1, 2022 and Could 15, 2026, greater than 7,400 assaults have been recorded throughout the nation.
The Amhara area emerged as probably the most risky space, registering greater than half (3,719) of the assaults. In Oromia, the nation’s most populous area, 2,735 assaults had been recorded on account of an ongoing armed rise up led by OLA alongside separate cases of communal clashes.
Different territories additionally skilled instability, with Tigray registering 262 assaults and the western Gambela area recording 144 assaults.
The map under exhibits a time sequence of the assorted assaults throughout the nation over the previous 4 years.
