Elections in Ethiopia

The first legally mandated multi-party (reginal) contests took place in 1992 and were followed by the election of the members of the Constituent Assembly (which drafted the 1995 Constitution).

These early democratic exercises and the referendum to approve the current constitution were held under the Transitional Period Charter of Ethiopia.

The 1995 elections were preceded by a post-socialist liberalization that saw Ethiopia's accession to international human rights treaties and the legalization of independent newspapers and political parties.

[6] Ethiopia held general elections on 14 May and 31 August 2000 for seats in both its national House of Peoples' Representatives and several regional government councils.

[8] the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) member parties captured 481 of the 547 seats in the national election.

[11] According to observers organized by Ethiopian Human Rights Council, local U.N. staff, diplomatic missions, political parties, and domestic non-governmental organizations, both the general and the regional elections that year were generally free and fair in most areas; however, serious election irregularities occurred in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), particularly in the Hadiya Zone.

Human Rights Watch has accused the Ethiopian government of stifling political dissent and criticism in Oromia, Ethiopia's most populous region.

The government has denied these allegations, and cited the occurrence of an opposition rally attended by 250,000 people on 8 May as an example of political freedom in the country.

On 9 August, official results were released, acknowledging that the ruling EPRDF had won 296 of the total 524 seats - about 56 percent - enabling it to form a government.

[14] At the time, the 2005 elections were considered to be the most democratic in Ethiopia's history, where the government no longer won an overwhelming majority – according to even the contested official results the EPRDF secured a mere 59.7% of the seats in parliament.

[2] Following the refusal of major opposition parties to join parliament, who demanded the EPRDF relinquish power and called for nationwide protests, the tension and street violence quickly escalated.

[15] The violent end of the 2005 elections ushered in a decade in which the EPRDF would win almost all seats in parliament justified under the broad rubric of "Revolutionary Democracy".

[16] The doctrine of Revolutionary Democracy was considered an official ideology and was being incorporated into the legal system until Abiy Ahmed assumed the premiership in April 2018.

[20] Chief European Union (EU) observer Thijs Berman reported that the elections were "peaceful and well organised", but noted an "uneven playing field" and criticized the use of state resources in the EPRDF campaign.

[18] Medrek leader Merera Gudina rejected the election results as being "completely fraudulent" and indicated that the coalition is considering what action to take.

[23] Prime Minister Meles Zenawi attributed the election results to the EPRDF's past performance, in particular citing the country's economic growth.