Ethiopia opened polling stations across the country on Monday for parliamentary and regional elections, but the vote is unfolding against a backdrop of intense armed conflict, with widespread fighting reported across the Amhara region even as ballots are being cast.
Over 50 million Ethiopians are registered to vote in an election widely expected to deliver another landslide victory for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party. However, the credibility of the process has been called into question after eyewitness accounts emerged of soldiers voting at polling stations in areas where armed conflict is simultaneously taking place. Critics argue it is impossible to hold a genuinely free and fair election while civilians are caught in active fighting zones and security forces take part in the same electoral process.
Elections have already been cancelled entirely in the Tigray region due to what authorities described as unfavorable conditions, following renewed political tensions after the dominant local party moved to reassert administrative control over the region, a development that officials and analysts have warned could trigger a fresh outbreak of violence. The 2022 peace deal that ended the two-year Tigray civil war, which is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people, remains fragile.
Abiy also faces active insurgencies in the country’s two most populous regions. In Oromia, clashes between federal forces and the Oromo Liberation Army have claimed hundreds of lives in recent years. In Amhara, the Fano armed movement has expanded its territorial presence significantly since 2023, forcing the cancellation of voting in at least eight of the region’s 138 constituencies.
On the ground, the situation on election day appeared far from calm. Reports from multiple fronts indicated that heavy fighting between Fano fighters and government forces broke out late Sunday night and continued into Monday morning across a wide stretch of Amhara. Clashes were reported in areas spanning Debre Berhan, Shewa Robit, Lalibela, Dessie, Debre Markos, Gondar, and dozens of surrounding towns and districts. In some locations, fighters claimed to have captured military positions and seized weapons from government forces. Fano said that while town centers remained mostly quiet, ruling party members were seen setting up campaign tents in select areas.
The scale of the fighting on election day raises serious questions about the conditions under which millions of Ethiopians are being asked to vote, and whether the outcome of this election can carry any meaningful democratic weight.
Source: DNE Africa — Published June 1, 2026.
