
Voting Begins in Ethiopian Parliamentary Elections
Voice of America
ADDIS ABABA - More than 37 million voters re eligible to cast ballots at polling stations across Ethiopia Monday in a pivotal election in Africa’s second-most populous nation.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s ruling Prosperity Party is fielding the most candidates and is expected to win the most seats in parliament. The 44-year-old prime minister, who won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for implementing democratic and economic reforms in the country and a peace deal with neighboring Eritrea, has said the vote is Ethiopia’s “first attempt at free and fair elections.” But the election is marred by a boycott of some prominent opposition parties that accuse the ruling party of harassment and intimidation and continued conflict in the country’s northern Tigray region, where government troops have been fighting forces loyal to the region’s former governing party since last November. The war has created a humanitarian crisis in Tigray, with some 350,000 people facing famine, according to the United Nations.
Local officials and navy personnel attend a joint Iranian, Russian and Chinese military drill in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 12, 2025. (Iranian Army Office via AFP) Chinese navy troops attending a joint naval drill with Iran and Russia stand on the deck of their warship in an official arrival ceremony at Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar in the Gulf of Oman, Iran, on March 11, 2025.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi waves as he arrives for Mauritius' 57th National Day celebrations at the Champ De Mars, Port Louis, Mauritius, March 12, 2025. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and his Mauritius counterpart Navin Ramgoolam pay homage after laying a wreath at the Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Botanical Garden during his State visit, in Pamplemousses, Mauritius, March 11, 2025. FILE - Sailors walk on the deck of the INS Imphal, a stealth guided-missile destroyer, at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai, Dec. 22, 2023.

Police officers guard the Palace of the Republic after Bosnian prosecutors ordered the detention of three top Bosnian Serb officials over a series of separatist actions, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, March 12, 2025. FILE - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in the Bosnian town of Banja Luka, 240 kms northwest of Sarajevo, Dec. 29, 2023.