Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party retained an overwhelming majority in Ethiopia’s parliament, winning 438 of the 501 seats decided in the June 1 national election, according to final results announced by the National Election Board of Ethiopia.
The new House of Representatives was expected to convene in October and reelect Abiy for another five-year term. Turnout was reported at 94%, with more than 50 million voters registered in a country whose population was estimated at 130 million.
The numerical victory came amid serious limits on participation and voting. The election board said 143 polling stations did not open because of insecurity in the Amhara and Oromia regions. Federal forces were fighting the Fano armed group in Amhara and Oromo Liberation Army rebels in Oromia as the government sought to disarm them.
Tigray was again excluded from the election. The northern region, devastated by a war in which hundreds of thousands died, had gone six years without federal representation. Its continued absence left residents without a voice in the incoming parliament and underscored the incomplete national reach of the vote.
Election board chair Melatwork Hailu said the institution acted neutrally, followed the law and electoral rules, and operated free of interference. Observer missions from the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development were present, but their coverage was largely limited to Addis Ababa. Critics said they should have deployed more staff across Ethiopia.
Opposition figures challenged the fairness of the contest. Many prominent government critics were imprisoned, abroad or missing, while most ruling-party opponents had been prevented from taking part. Candidates who did compete described harassment, intimidation and a large structural advantage for the governing party.
Yitayal Assefa of the All Ethiopia Unity Party, who lost his race, said his candidacy was intended to preserve a political voice despite a contest he believed the government was certain to win. Opposition leader and Addis Ababa University professor Merara Gudina, who declined to participate, called the election a sham and warned the outcome could worsen national instability.
Abiy’s government had faced accusations of rights abuses against journalists and critics despite earlier promises of democracy and peace. Regional tensions also remained elevated: Ethiopia accused neighboring Eritrea of backing armed groups, while Eritrea accused Ethiopia of threatening to seize its seaport.
The result gave the Prosperity Party the parliamentary numbers to continue governing, but it did not resolve disputes about legitimacy, security or representation. Final seat totals documented the scale of the victory; the conditions surrounding the vote explain why opposition figures disputed what those totals represented.
