Photo: Collected

ADDIS ABABA, May 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which dominated Ethiopian politics for some 30 years, has been banned from political activity, the Election Commission said Wednesday.

It said the commission's board had "resolved to formally deregister" the party for failing to hold a general assembly.

The decision follows months of political tensions in the northern region of Tigray and comes ahead of elections that are due to take place in Ethiopia by June 2026 at the latest.

The TPLF led a revolution that overthrew the authoritarian Derg regime in 1991 and then ruled the whole of Ethiopia up to 2018 when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed took power and effectively sidelined the party.

The TPLF fought a brutal civil war against the federal government from 2020 and 2022 that cost some 600,000 lives.

Although a peace deal ended the war in November 2022, there has been frustration in the Tigray region at the failure to implement its terms, including the return of some one million people displaced by the war.

In-fighting within the TPLF led to clashes earlier this year and the removal of the regional leader, Getachew Reda.

On Tuesday, a local official told AFP that foreigners had been banned from travelling to the region, though the immediate trigger for the decision was unclear.