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Voting for war, to secure peace: weaponising the Tigray 2020 election in Ethiopia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2024

Kjetil Tronvoll Open the ORCID record for Kjetil Tronvoll [Opens in a new window]
Kjetil Tronvoll*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Oslo New University College, Lovisenberggata 13, 0456 Oslo, Norway
*
Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Elections in divided societies and in countries undergoing political transitions are precarious events. Hastened democratisation may ignite inter-communal antagonism and mobilise voters for conflict. Sub-national elections are even more prone to challenge national policies to defend regional autonomy and self-determination. The relationship between the Tigray Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Ethiopian Federal government had been deteriorating since the coming to power of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018. It was formally breached in September 2020 when the TPLF insisted on organising a separate regional election in Tigray in defiance of the federal government's decision to postpone national elections due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to one of Africa's most devastating civil wars in modern times. In the pursuit of democratic legitimacy, and conversely consciously framing the federal government as non-democratic, the TPLF ‘weaponised’ the election. This article analyses the process leading up to the decision to conduct separate elections in Tigray, its conduct and result. The analysis demonstrates how elections and the contestation to claim a democratic legitimacy in transition countries may contribute to a politics of violence, ultimately leading to war.

Keywords

EthiopiaTigrayelectionswarpolitical transition
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 53 - 77
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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