Turnout: 94.00%
About this election
Ethiopia held general elections for the 547-seat House of Peoples' Representatives and the regional state councils on 1 June 2026. It was the second general election since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took office in 2018 and the second contested by his Prosperity Party (PP). Voting did not take place on a single day everywhere: in parts of the Amhara and Oromia regions, polling was postponed or disrupted by ongoing armed conflict, and supplementary voting was scheduled for the affected constituencies. On 21 June 2026 the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) announced the final results of the 7th general election: the Prosperity Party won 438 of the 547 seats — far above the 274 needed for a majority — comfortably extending its hold on power for another five-year term. These are the official results as declared by the NEBE. Sixteen smaller parties and eight independents shared the remaining 48 declared seats, led by Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (EZEMA) with 13 and the National Movement of Amhara with 6, while 61 seats remain vacant, chiefly in constituencies where insecurity prevented or postponed voting — including the whole of Tigray. The NEBE reported turnout of 94% among the roughly 50.5 million registered voters, but it has not published nationwide vote-share totals, so the results are reported in seats only.
Ethiopia uses a single-member plurality (first-past-the-post) system across 547 constituencies for the House of Peoples' Representatives; the party or coalition that controls the House selects the prime minister. Regional state councils are elected in parallel on the same day. A separate House of the Federation, whose members are chosen by the regional councils rather than directly elected, handles constitutional and inter-regional questions. The NEBE, a constitutional body, administers the vote; opposition parties and some observers have questioned how independent it is in practice, while the government maintains that it operates autonomously.
Several factors lengthened the count. Ballots are cast and tallied on paper in more than 500 constituencies across a country of roughly 125 million people, often in areas with limited road and communications infrastructure. Polling in conflict-affected parts of Amhara — where Fano militia groups have been fighting government forces — and Oromia — where the Oromo Liberation Army operates — was postponed or interrupted, so the NEBE has had to organise rescheduled and supplementary voting and tabulate it separately before announcing nationwide totals. The board's certification process, which involves aggregating constituency results, adjudicating complaints, and confirming figures, adds further time. NEBE initially indicated roughly two weeks for certification; that timeline was extended, and the nationwide seat totals announced on 21 June 2026 were presented as the final results of the election, with the vacant seats to be filled through later by-elections once conditions in the affected areas allow.
The election drew criticism on several fronts, summarised here for context. Opposition parties and international observers raised concerns about the imprisonment and prosecution of opposition figures, restrictions on campaigning and the media, and the exclusion of voters in conflict zones. Some opposition parties boycotted the vote or said conditions did not permit a free contest, while others chose to compete. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which led the country's governing coalition until 2018, did not participate, and the status of Tigray following the 2020-2022 war remained unresolved. The government has stated that the election was conducted lawfully and that security conditions, rather than political intent, prevented voting in some areas. Independent verification is limited because access for observers and journalists is constrained in parts of the country.
From 1991 to 2018 Ethiopia was governed by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition led for much of that period by the TPLF. The 2005 election was the most competitive in Ethiopia's modern history, with substantial opposition gains, but the disputed outcome was followed by protests and a deadly government crackdown. In 2010 and 2015 the EPRDF and its allies won almost every seat — in 2015, all 547. Abiy Ahmed became prime minister in 2018 amid mass protests, dissolved the EPRDF, and merged most of its members into the new Prosperity Party in 2019; the TPLF declined to join. The June 2021 election, delayed from 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic and security concerns, saw the Prosperity Party win 410 of 436 declared seats, though voting was not held in Tigray and several other areas and a number of opposition parties boycotted or were unable to compete effectively.
Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 on a reformist platform, releasing political prisoners, legalising opposition groups, and making peace with neighbouring Eritrea, for which he received the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. His tenure was subsequently dominated by conflict: a civil war in Tigray (2020-2022) that caused large-scale humanitarian harm, and continuing insurgencies in Amhara and Oromia. Ethiopia's federal system is organised along ethnic-linguistic lines, with regional states for the Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, Somali and other peoples; disputes over the balance between federal authority and regional autonomy remain central to national politics.
Beyond the Prosperity Party's 438 seats, the final results give Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (EZEMA) 13 seats, the National Movement of Amhara 6, and three each to the Amhara Democratic Force Movement, the Medrek coalition and the Freedom and Equality Party, with the Coalition for Unity and Democracy on two. Ten further parties — among them the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the Somali Federalist Party, the Afar People's Party and Unity for Democracy and Justice — won a single seat apiece, and eight independents were elected. That puts the combined opposition and independent bench at 48 of the 486 seats filled — about one in ten, a somewhat larger presence than in the 2021 parliament but nowhere near the numbers needed to check the government. The 61 vacant seats, above all Tigray's entire delegation, are expected to be filled by later by-elections once security allows.
National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) — nebe.org.et.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.