Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed gets his Pyrrhic victory

Ethiopian PM has prevailed in his first electoral contest, but there is little to celebrate given country’s dire state.

After months of setbacks – including being twice delayed – Ethiopia has had its election. Originally scheduled for August 2020, it was postponed until June 5 due to the coronavirus pandemic. It was delayed again to enable more time to tackle voter registration problems and other electoral challenges across African’s second-most populous country, eventually taking place on June 21. On Saturday, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced that the party of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had won a landslide victory in his first electoral contest.