Ethiopia is voting on Monday in a long-awaited election that has already been postponed twice.
The election was originally scheduled for August last year, but was moved with reference to the corona pandemic, and moved again in May due to logistical problems.
The election would be a test of democracy in the country with over one hundred million inhabitants, but only a third are registered to vote.
In some parts of the country, due to security and logistical problems, residents have to wait until the autumn to vote, and in Tigray no election date has been set.
Many disappointed
In Tigray's capital Mekelle, many are disappointed.
The war has been going on since November last year, the mobile network has been hijacked since then and there is now a warning of a famine.
Around 90 percent of people need food aid, according to the UN's food program WFP.
- That there are free elections is bullshit, to hold elections, people must be free, and we have no freedom.
I would like to ask the president what his agenda in Tigray really is, says 25-year-old Mikiele Gebre in Mekelle.
Some opposition parties are boycotting the election on the grounds that their candidates have been harassed, and several from the opposition are in prison.
The incumbent prime minister is expected to win
Ethiopia's incumbent Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party are expected to win big in the election, which will be his first chance to be elected.
When Abiy took office in 2018, he was praised for his reforms.
Political prisoners were released and the country quickly climbed the press freedom scale.
In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his peace agreement with Eritrea.
Since then, international criticism of him has increased, especially after the war in Tigray began in November last year.
The country also has major security problems outside of Tigray and over two million have been forced to leave their homes due to ethnic violence.