17/06/2021
Ethiopia is due to hold elections on 21 June despite a bloody conflict and looming famine in the north and escalating tensions among its biggest ethnic groups.
The polls were originally scheduled for August 2020 but were delayed, with officials citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
Voters will elect 547 members of the federal parliament and the leader of the winning party becomes prime minister. The last general election was held in 2015.
Why is the election such a big deal?
This is the first electoral test for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since he took office on a pledge to end repression, although there are already concerns about the integrity of the poll.
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Mr Abiy rose to power in April 2018 on the back of protests against the coalition government dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and embarked on shaking up Ethiopia.
He clamped down on corruption, released political prisoners, appointed more women to the cabinet and made peace with neighbouring Eritrea, following a 1998-2000 border war that left tens of thousands of people dead.
His reformist zeal saw him win the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, but just a year later, he waged a military operation in his own country - deploying troops to the northern Tigray province to oust the TPLF as the region's ruling party after it seized military bases in what Mr Abiy saw as a bid to overthrow him.
It has led to a conflict that has killed thousands of people and has led to mass hunger and reports of a famine in the region.

IMAGE SOURCE,AFP
Image caption,
The conflict in Tigray has had a devastating impact on the lives of people
One of the causes of the deterioration in relations between the two sides was the delay of the election last year, with the TPLF accusing Mr Abiy of using the pandemic as a pretext to extend his stay in power after his term of office expired in September 2020.
Go and vote 21 June
