The political framework of Ethiopia

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: President: SAHLE-WORK Zewde (since 25 October 2018)
Prime Minister: Prime Minister ABIY Ahmed (since 2 April 2018)
Next Election Dates: House of Federation : October 2026
House of People's Representatives : June 2026
Main Political Parties: The ruling coalition (former Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)) is the new Prosperity Party, which is formed by the merger of three ethnically-based parties: the Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) (formerly: Amhara National Democratic Movement, ANDM), the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organisation (OPDO) and the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM). The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) refused to become part of the new party. The TPLF is the dominant group within the coalition, though Tigrayans represent only 6% of the country's population. However, the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is Ethiopia's first leader from the Oromo ethnic group. The Joint Action for Democracy in Ethiopia and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Coalition are among the opposition parties. Medrek (Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity) is one of the country’s main opposition parties, established in 2008.
Other parties include:
Somali People's Democratic Party (SPDP)
Harari National League (HNL)
Gambella Peoples Unity Democratic Movement (GPUDM)
Executive Power: The highest executive powers of the Federal Government are vested in the Prime Minister and in the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister is elected from among members of the House of Peoples' Representatives, and his term of office is for the duration of the mandate of the House of Peoples' Representatives.
The Prime Minister is the Chief Executive, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and the Commander-in-Chief of the national armed forces, he/she leads the Council of Ministers, coordinates its activities and acts as its representative.
The Council of Ministers comprises the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Ministers and other members as may be determined by law. Among its powers and functions, it formulates and implements economic, social and development policies and strategies.
Legislative Power: Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the he Federal Parliamentary Assembly: the House of People's Representatives (with 547 members elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies), and the House of the Federation (with 110 members, one for each nationality, and one additional representative for each one million of its population, designated by the regional councils).

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 101/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.