The Evolution of the Majority Party System in Ethiopia: Analysis of Structure and Interactions

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Politics and Economics, Faculty of Higher African Studies, Cairo University

Abstract

Since 1995, only one Ethiopian political party has managed to win all consecutive elections with landslide victory. This phenomenon prevailed for more than two decades in spite of adopting multipartyism, and the structural changes in the ruling party after the transformation from Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to Ethiopian Prosperity Party (EPP) in 2019. Accordingly, Ethiopian party system consists one of the most revealing case studies for “Predominant Party system” which is a unique category introduced by Giovanni Sartori in reference to a party system that witnesses a stability of the ruling party for a lengthy period of time regardless open competition between several parties. In order to analyze Ethiopian predominant party system, the study will combine party system structure and party system interactions level of analysis to reach a comprehensive assessment of Ethiopian party system and its future after internal conflict started in 2020.

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