More than 54 million citizens are choosing lawmakers from among candidates representing 42 political parties

Ethiopians began voting on Monday as the country launched its seventh general election, with voters electing members of the federal parliament and nine regional state councils.

Polling stations opened at 6 AM nationwide, with long queues forming early as citizens headed to cast their votes, local news agency ENA reported.

More than 54 million people are registered to vote in the election. Over 10,000 candidates from 42 political parties, including the ruling Prosperity Party led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, are contesting seats at the federal and regional levels, with voting taking place at roughly 52,000 polling stations across the country.

Voting is not being held in the Tigray region due to ongoing instability following the 2021-2022 conflict, while polling in eight constituencies in Amhara has been suspended because of security concerns related to the Fano armed group.

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The election is being monitored by observers. The African Union Election Observation Mission (AUEOM), led by former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, visited polling stations during the opening of the vote. "Democracy is something that we in the African continent would like to entrench so that we have true representation, a feeling of inclusion, and the ability for people to choose the leaders of their choice," Kenyatta said.

Some opposition figures have questioned the competitiveness of the election. Merera Gudina, a veteran opposition politician and leader of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), told the BBC that his party was participating only "symbolically" and primarily to avoid losing its legal registration. Mistreselasie Tamrat, secretary of the Coalition for Ethiopian Unity (CEU), said opposition parties had been unable to campaign effectively in the Amhara and Oromia regions due to a lack of what he called "enabling conditions."

Ethiopia is a parliamentary republic, meaning the composition of the federal parliament will determine the formation of the next government and the selection of the prime minister. Speaking to African Initiative news agency, Andrey Khrenkov, a senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said that the most likely outcome is the preservation of the dominant position of Abiy's ruling Prosperity Party.

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Abiy has served as the country's prime minister since 2018. His Prosperity Party was established in 2019 following the merger of several parties from the ruling coalition that had governed the country for nearly three decades. Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 for brokering peace in the decades-long conflict with neighboring Eritrea. His tenure has also been marked by the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile, the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa.

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(RT.com)