Ethiopian Lawmakers Move to Avoid Crisis Over Election Delay

(Bloomberg) -- Ethiopia's parliament will assess the constitution to establish how the nation can avert a crisis and potential instability caused by delayed elections.

A vote scheduled for August was postponed last month because of the coronavirus pandemic. The term of the current government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Abiy Ahmed, expires on Oct. 10 and it's unclear what mandate it will have to continue ruling without an election.

Lawmakers voted Tuesday for the upper chamber of parliament, known as the House of the Federation, to provide an interpretation of the constitution on the matter, the state-run Fana Broadcasting Corp. reported. Several opposition parties are opposed to the decision.

“The absence of constitutional provisions for extending a government's term, combined with the fact that both parliamentary chambers are overwhelmingly ruling party-controlled, means there are fertile grounds for the opposition to question the government's legitimacy, which could breed more instability,” International Crisis Group's Ethiopia analyst, Wiliam Davison, said in an emailed response to questions.

Ethiopia effectively has been ruled by the same party since 1991, after a rebellion ended the two-decade reign of a Marxist-Leninist regime known as the Derg. The elections planned for August were to be the first under Abiy's program of fostering multiparty democracy. Reforms he initiated have emboldened some political groups to call for greater regional autonomy, triggering unrest among the country's main ethnic groups.

On Monday, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, which has broken away from the ruling party, announced its decision to hold regional elections in August. It accused the ruling Prosperity Party of “unconstitutionally” using the Covid-19 pandemic as “a good opportunity to establish a one man authoritarian rule,” according to a statement on its Facebook page.

The legality of such an election is unclear, said Davison.

“Senior federal officials and Tigray's leaders should immediately discuss ways to try and avoid a major disagreement over this issue, which could well exacerbate tensions between this region and the central government,” he said.