[2] After President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled the country, a national conference in July 1991 led to the creation of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE).

Observers considered it a foregone conclusion that the majority of the 547 seats in the House of People's Representatives would be won by the ruling coalition known as the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which had assumed power after overthrowing President Mengistu and had been the dominant force in the TGE.

Primary opposition came from the small Ethiopian National Democratic Party, led by Nebiyu Samuel.

[1] Despite this impression of civil behavior, candidates of the Silte People's Democratic Unity Party were harassed, beaten, and prohibited from travelling; Dr. Asrat Woldeyes, secretary-general of the All-Amhara People's Organization, was arrested, convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment for being at a meeting at which armed activities against the TGE were allegedly discussed; and officials of the Ethiopian Democratic Unity Party were arrested in Gondar and Bahir Dar.

"Competitions in these frontier regions tended to be extremely complicated," notes Lyon, who records such incidents as two brothers who, at one point, offered different candidate lists for the Afar Liberation Front.