We are a non-profit think tank and Parliamentary Monitoring Organization specializing in parliamentary affairs and the sub-regional organization of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Established and registered in December 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, it operates as a local organization in accordance with the FDRE Civil Society Organization Proclamation No. 1113/2019.
In the seventh general election held on Monday, June 1, 2026 voting took place for a total of 14 legislative councils, encompassing the federal parliament (547 seats) as well as the councils of 12 regions and two city administrations (2,916 seats). Currently, there are 24 national and 45 regional parties recognized by the National Election Board of Ethiopia, out of which 42 parties contested the election to secure voters' ballots. Nevertheless, due to the suspension of the competition in 46 constituencies; specifically, 8 in the Amhara region and 38 in the Tigray region, the House of People's Representatives, which will be constituted at the early week of next October, will commence its operations with 501 seats. While this situation temporarily restricts the full federal representation of the House, it does not impede its legal legislative legitimacy thereof.
On the other hand, although elections were not held at this time for the House of Federation and the nationalities' councils of the three new regional states; which hold the mandate for constitutional interpretation and ethnic representation rather than lawmaking, the first-time participation of the South West Ethiopia, Central Ethiopia and South Ethiopia regions (which emerged as independent entities from the former Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region) in this general election serves as a major cornerstone that strengthens their institutional transition into regional federalism.
In light of the prevailing institutional and political realities, BRIDGE’s assessment indicates that the ruling Prosperity Party is projected to easily win over 50 percent of the seats in most regional councils, including the 65 seats House of Peoples’ Representatives where it ran uncontested and will secure the majority vote required to form a government in the upcoming House of Peoples' Representatives. If our institution's probabilistic hypothesis, that opposition parties will secure between 10 and 15 percent of the 501 contested seats materializes, this representation will create a valuable capacity to stimulate policy debates within the parliament and enhance the oversight role over government executive bodies.
This research report is published by the House of Peoples Representatives (HoPR) of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), BRIDGE Research and Innovation for Democratic Governance and Enhanced Peace (BRIDGE), and with the support of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD). It was conceptualized and written by BRIDGE and reviewed by an HoPR team of MPs and HoPR Secretariat Staff.
