The state-run channel said the 180-member council of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) chose Abiye to succeed Hailemariam as the chairperson of the coalition, meaning he automatically became premier.
“In today’s session, the council held a vote and elected Abiye Ahmed as chairperson,” said the EBC presenter, without giving further details.
Abiye, who hails from the Oromo ethnic group, will take over the government of Africa’s second most populous country.
The ruling coalition has struggled to contain persistent and violent unrest since 2015, the biggest challenge to its hold on power since 1991.
Hailemariam cast his resignation last month as a bid to smooth the way for reforms. It came after strikes and demonstrations near the capital successfully demanding the release of opposition members.
The government has twice imposed emergency rule, most recently after Hailemariam’s resignation, to contain unrest mainly in Oromiya province, the country’s most populous region.
Rights groups have said that amid the violence security forces have killed hundreds of people.
Abiye faces the challenge of implementing democratic reforms that have been pledged by the government. He must also bridge differences that have erupted within the ruling coalition.
When a vote to validate the second state of emergency after Hailemariam’s resignation came before parliament earlier this month, almost 90 legislators voted against the bill despite being members of the same coalition, exposing widening rifts.
“He faces the tasks of widening political space and reaching out to the opposition. He will also have to respond to popular demands,” said Asnake Kefale, an assistant professor of political science at Addis Ababa University.
Legislative elections have been scheduled for 2020.
Analysts have said that the appointment of an Oromo to the most powerful political office in the country could ease tensions.
Oromos comprise 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 100 million people but have not held power in the country’s modern history.
Along with the other largest ethnic group in the country, the Amharas, they have led street protests against the government since 2015.
Abiye is the deputy president of the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organisation, one of the four ethnic-based parties in the EPRDF coalition.
He speaks three Ethiopian languages, holds a doctorate in peace and security from Addis Ababa University and served in the military. He also briefly served as science and technology minister in Hailemariam’s cabinet.
Some analysts and opposition politicians have blamed rising ethnic tensions in the diverse country on Ethiopia’s federal system, which redrew the borders of provinces largely along ethnic lines in 1991.
Reporting by Aaron Maasho; Editing by Maggie Fick, Toni Reinhold
Ethiopia’s ruling coalition names new chairman, set to be PM
But Hailemariam later announced his intention to resign and a new state of emergency, the second in less than two years, was imposed in one of Africa’s fastest growing economies. Earlier this week, a number of recently freed politicians and journalists were re-arrested and accused of gathering without authorities’ prior knowledge.
Ethiopians had eagerly awaited news of their new leader for days, with many hoping the development would bring calm to the nation of 100 million people after the months of protests demanding wider freedoms.
Abiy will be the first person from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, to hold the post of prime minister since the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power in 1991. The Oromo people, despite their numbers, have long felt marginalized and have played a main role in the demonstrations.
The new leader, who is in his 40s, is widely seen as a fresh face in the ruling coalition, which long has been dominated by the smaller but more powerful Tigray Peoples Liberation Front. Credited with co- founding the National Intelligence and Security Service, Abiy was elected last month as chair of the Oromo People Democratic Organization, one of the ruling coalition’s four core parties, paving the way for his premiership.
“A fair justice system works only when human rights are respected,” he said during a recent meeting in the Oromia region.
“I believe that Dr. Abiy Ahmed is the answer to Ethiopia’s youths’ questions,” Yonas Alemayehu, an activist in the restive region, told The Associated Press.
This will be the third prime minister since the current ruling coalition came to power close to 30 years ago after overthrowing the Derg military regime by force. The ruling coalition on Tuesday also decided to keep Demeke Mekonnen as deputy prime minister.
The outgoing prime minister, Hailemariam, at times had been labeled as weak and in the shadow of former strongman Meles Zenawi, who died in 2012. Others argued that he successfully continued the late leader’s core policies: economic transformation and repression.
In a 2016 interview with the AP, Hailemariam acknowledged that good governance was in decline in Ethiopia, a key security ally of the United States.
“That is the main reason why people are protesting,” he said at the time. “This is really a positive sign. I have recently apologized in front of the parliament for our mismanagement and lack of responsibility that have generated these dissents. We are now taking measures to address those grievances.”
However, the protests have continued to this day.
Yilikal Getnet, a prominent opposition figure, said the declaration of two separate states of emergency and now the change in leadership showed that the tight grip that ruling elites once had over the public was now deserting them.
“This change in leadership is an indication of how unstable the government is,” Yilikal told the AP. “It has got nothing to do with opening up for democratization or a peaceful transfer of power. It’s time for the ruling party to admit that solving Ethiopia’s current woes are beyond its capacity.”
The Associated Press.
Abiy Ahmed elected as chairman of Ethiopia’s ruling coalition
EPRDF picks Abiy Ahmed as its chairman, paving the way for the Oromo leader to become Ethiopia’s prime minister.
![Mass protests erupted in Ethiopia's populous Oromia region in 2015 [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2018/2/19/a71c1006358d40748e14b9c249d3e0a8_18.jpg?resize=355%2C200&ssl=1 "Abiy Ahmed elected as chairman of Ethiopia's ruling coalition")
Ethiopia’s ruling coalition has elected Abiy Ahmed as its new chairman, according to state media.
The announcement on Tuesday by state broadcaster FANA means that Ahmed, who hails from the Oromo ethnic group, is now expected to succeed Hailemariam Desalegn as Ethiopia’s prime minister.
The chairman of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition has historically also taken on prime minister duties.
The EPRDF and its allies control all 547 seats in Ethiopia’s parliament, which must confirm the new prime minister.
Ruling coalition
In a surprise move on February 15, Hailemariam announced that he was stepping down as both prime minister and chairman of the EPRDF.
He said at the time that he would be staying on as prime minister in a caretaker capacity, until the EPRDF named a successor.
Local news site Addis Standard reported on Tuesday that Ahmed garnered 108 out of 180 votes in a meeting by the EPRDF’s Council, which comprises 45 members each from the four political parties that make up the coalition.
Mainly divided along ethnic lines, the parties are: the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organisation (OPDO) and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM).
State of emergency
Hailemariam abrupt resignation’s prompted the government to declare a six-month state of emergency in a bid to stem political unrest amid long-standing demands for greater freedoms.
Mass protests have been going on since 2015 when anti-government demonstrations broke out among the Oromo, Ethiopia’s biggest ethnic group, and later spread to the Amhara, the second biggest group.
The protests, which initially began over land rights but later broadened to include calls for greater political representation at the national level, were met with a harsh government response.
Human rights groups hundreds of people were killed by security forces during the violence, while thousands of others were arrested.
Abiy will be the first Oromo prime minister in the 27 years EPRDF has been in power.
Last month, the 81-member OPDO central committee named Ahmed, a former minister of science and technology, as its new chairman.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera News