This archive report was first published on 9 June 2020.
On June 8, 2020, Ethiopia's upper house speaker, Keria Ibrahim, resigned in a move seen as a protest against the postponement of planned elections in the Horn of Africa country.
According to Reuters, the speaker, who is also a top official in the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), one of the country's major political parties, accused the government of taking away Ethiopians' sovereign rights.
The parliamentary and regional elections had been planned for August, but no new date has yet been set.
Abiy's government has been criticized for its decision to postpone the elections, which effectively allows the incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to continue ruling beyond the expiry of his term.
Professor Kjetil Tronvoll, a peace and conflict studies expert, warned that the deteriorating relationship between Abiy and his ruling Prosperity Party and the TPLF may lead to an open confrontation.
Abiy took power in 2018 and introduced reforms allowing greater freedoms in what had long been one of the continent's most repressive states.
However, the reforms have also emboldened regional power-brokers such as the TPLF to seek more power for their ethnic groups.
