Revolutionary Democracy Is Passé to Ethiopia's Ruling Party
- Change in alliance’s structure to mirror ethnic representation
- Horn of Africa nation is headed for an election next year
Abiy Ahmed
Photographer: Zacharias Abubeker/AFP via Getty Images
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Ethiopia’s ruling coalition plans to restructure and amend decision-making to become more democratic as it prepares for elections scheduled for next year, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s part of the alliance said.
The Oromo Democratic Party or ODP, which together with three other ethnically-based parties and five affiliated regional parties constitute the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, announced the plan Friday. The EPRDF, a former rebel movement with Marxist-Leninist roots, must replace its three-decade ideology of “revolutionary democracy” as it’s divisive and “undemocratic,” according to the ODP.