This week, the five-year term of the Ethiopian parliament officially expired, drawing a quiet curtain on a legislative body elected in 2021. Dominated completely by the ruling Prosperity Party (PP), the outgoing House of Peoples’ Representatives functioned less as a vibrant arena for democratic debate and more as a predictable echo chamber for executive fiat. Throughout its tenure, this assembly offered virtually no institutional space where alternative political views could be robustly expressed, nor did it meaningfully discharge its solemn, constitutional duty of oversight. Ministers were rarely subjected to searching cross-examinations, state expenditures were rubber-stamped with minimal friction, and critical decisions on internal security were passed with near-unanimous uniformity.
Following the June 2026 general elections—which saw the Prosperity Party secure another sweeping landslide of 438 out of 501 contested seats—this passive legislative culture is poised to continue into the incoming parliament. Even the ruling party’s highly publicized strategic decision not to contest around 15 percent of parliamentary seats, aimed at engineering a multi-party appearance, yielded only marginal diversity on the benches. A tiny handful of opposition and independent members will sit in the 547-seat house, leaving the governing superstructure fundamentally intact. Consequently, there is no realistic expectation among the public that the current set of severe political, economic, and social challenges besetting Ethiopians will be addressed effectively by a body so thoroughly monolithic.
Simultaneously, the federal government has mounted an aggressive defense of its record over the past five years. Official narratives insist that the administration has done a stellar job across the political, economic, social, and diplomatic spheres. In state media broadcasts and consecutive parliamentary addresses, its leadership has frequently boasted of ambitious macroeconomic targets, agricultural achievements, and high-profile diplomatic engagements. When confronted with the stark realities of widespread regional instability, insurgencies, crushing inflation, and deep social fractures, the government routinely denies or downplays its own role in the crises. Instead, it systematically pivots to the argument that it merely inherited these deep-seated problems from previous administrations and is doing its absolute best to address them under difficult circumstances.
This self-congratulatory stance reveals a profound disconnect from the everyday experiences of ordinary Ethiopians. The denial or minimizing of structural failures is a luxury a polarizing political environment cannot afford. If the incoming parliament merely duplicates the defensive, sycophantic habits of its predecessor, it will utterly fail to address the alarming security threats in the Amhara, Oromia and other regional states, the fragile recovery in Tigray, or the grinding cost-of-living crisis pushing millions into absolute poverty. To prevent this newly seated assembly from becoming another historic missed opportunity, immediate and radical institutional reforms must be enacted to transform it into an inclusive, functioning forum.
First and foremost, the structural culture of the House must be re-organized from within. The Speaker of the House must transcend partisan loyalty and actively enforce parliamentary bylaws that protect minority viewpoints, ensuring that alternative ideas are given adequate weight. This means ensuring that the small contingent of opposition and independent lawmakers are strategically placed on standing committees where their voices can shape legislative text before it hits the floor. True legislative oversight requires that these committees have the explicit authority to call for independent audits of government ministries, subpoena state security officials, and demand unvarnished accounting of how public funds are deployed.
Furthermore, the incoming parliament must break its institutional silence on the nation’s security and economic crises. It should immediately establish a permanent, cross-party legislative task force dedicated to monitoring and advising on the implementation of the ongoing National Dialogue. Instead of waiting for the Prime Minister’s office to hand down policy directives, lawmakers must proactively invite civil society leaders, human rights defenders, and independent economists to testify openly in committee chambers to dissect the true roots of the country’s economic distress.
Ultimately, a parliament’s legitimacy is derived not from the magnitude of the ruling party’s electoral dominance, but from its willingness to look the nation’s problems squarely in the face. Ethiopia cannot navigate its current crosscurrents of polarization if its primary legislative body remains paralyzed by conformity. The incoming members of the House of Peoples’ Representatives must recognize that their primary allegiance belongs to the constitution and the millions of citizens who braved insecurity to vote, not the party machinery. If the new parliament is to truly serve the people, bridge the dangerous chasm of public distrust, and help guide the country away from fragmentation toward genuine, inclusive stability it is imperative that it reclaim its rightful role as an aggressive, independent watchdog.
