Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Faces the First Vote amid Tigray Conflict
Ethiopians are going to the ballot today in key elections amid rising tensions and a bloody conflict in the northern Tigray region.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
The poll which was delayed by the pandemic is Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's first electoral test since coming to power in 2018.
The 45-year old Nobel Prize winner hopes to secure a popular command by winning a majority of the federal parliament's 547 seats.
However, voting has been postponed in the Tigray region, where the Ethiopian army has been fighting a regional force since November.
Voting has also been delayed in about a fifth of the country because of security concerns and logistical problems.
The general election is the first since 2015 which was originally scheduled for August 2020 but was rescheduled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came to power in 2018 as the nominee of the then-ruling coalition but he has never faced the electorate.
Abiy will keep his Prime Minister’s seat if the party wins a majority of seats in the national assembly.
According to Prime Minister Abiy, these polls will be "the nation's first attempt at free and fair elections". It’s a test of Ethiopian democracy.
Abiy will be facing more than 40 parties that have fielded candidates, the National Election Board of Ethiopia says, but most of them are regional parties.
