Monday, July 27, 2026

Ethiopia: Amhara Nationalists and National Dialogue

 Ethiopia Insight published on 27 July 2026 a commentary titled "Amhara Nationalism Faces Historic Choice in National Dialogue" by Henok Ambachew, a pseudonym for a former lecturer at Bahir Dar University.

Ethiopia's ruling Prosperity Party has replaced the EPRDF coalition model with a single national party, which the author says is based on a different organizing principle called "demographic majoritarianism."

The Prosperity Party increasingly reflects the numerical weight of Ethiopia's population.  The 45-member executive committee consists of 10 Oromo members, 8 Amharas, 4 Somalis with the remaining distributed among other regional constituencies.  This was not the outcome desired by many Amhara elites.