{"id":44501,"date":"2026-05-24T05:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T05:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions"},"modified":"2026-05-26T08:08:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T08:08:59","slug":"ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Ethiopia. <\/strong> <\/span>Ethiopia is set to hold general elections on June 1, amid expectations that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the ruling Prosperity Party will remain in power, in a political landscape described by media reports as one of the least competitive in the country&#8217;s modern history.<\/p>\n<p>Abiy Ahmed initially received international praise at the start of his tenure for actions including improving civil liberties and signing a peace agreement with Eritrea. However, his government has faced increasing criticism for its crackdown on opposition, journalists, and human rights organizations, coinciding with ongoing armed conflicts in several regions.<\/p>\n<p>The upcoming elections are taking place at a time when the country is experiencing persistent security tensions, particularly in the Amhara and Oromia regions, while the repercussions of the previous conflict in Tigray continue to affect the national scene. Additionally, there is a lack of strong political competition capable of threatening the ruling party&#8217;s position in the upcoming election.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, Abiy Ahmed&#8217;s government has focused in recent years on liberalizing sectors of the economy and attracting foreign investments, announcing expectations of achieving high growth this year. However, Ethiopia&#8217;s heavy reliance on oil imports has made it vulnerable to the impacts of rising energy prices and disruptions related to the war in Iran, increasing pressure on the African nation ahead of the polls.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Ethiopia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold general elections on June 1, amid expectations that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the ruling Prosperity Party will remain in power, in a political landscape described by media reports as one of the least competitive in the country&#8217;s modern history. Abiy Ahmed initially received international praise at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":44500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[235],"class_list":["post-44501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-ethiopia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions - Ethiopia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ethiopia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\"},\"wordCount\":243,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ethiopia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\",\"name\":\"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions - Ethiopia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":750,\"caption\":\"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/\",\"name\":\"Ethiopia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions - Ethiopia","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","og_site_name":"Ethiopia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions","datePublished":"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions"},"wordCount":243,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg","keywords":["ethiopia"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions","name":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions - Ethiopia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-24T05:45:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-26T08:08:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Ethiopia. Ethiopia is set to hold genera ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/sites\/50\/2026\/05\/sm_1779780171.726864.jpg","width":1000,"height":750,"caption":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/all-news\/ethiopia-heads-to-polls-amid-ongoing-security-tensions#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ethiopia Heads to Polls Amid Ongoing Security Tensions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/","name":"Ethiopia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44533,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44501\/revisions\/44533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/ethiopia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}