Ethiopia: Prosperity Party and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are in talks about a possible political merger, unconfirmed sources say.
TPLF-led Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ruled Ethiopia for around 3 decades. EPRDF was dismantled in 2019 when Prosperity Party (PP) was formed. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is the current chairman of the PP.
EPRDF had four main political parties: TPLF, Oromo Democratic Party, Amhara Democratic Party and Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Movement. All parties had equal representation in EPRDF’s central and executive committees. EPRDF backed and created regional parties in Gambella, Benighangul Gumuz, Afar, Somali and Harari regions. TPLF, being from Tigray with minority population, had equal share in EPRDS’s central and executive committees.
When PP was formed in 2019, all EPRDF parties and all EPRDF-backed parties merged into it. TPLF refused to part of the PP. Prosperity Party member parties have shares in central and executive committees according to the population of the regions from which these parties are.
In 2020, war broke out between TPLF and federal government led by the Prosperity Party. Two year long war ended in November 2022 when TPLF and Federal govt signed Pretoria deal. The deal states that TPLF will be adjusted in federal govt structure and PP will have share in Tigray government.
This month Prosperity Party and TPLF entered into talks. While agenda in unclear, some unconfirmed sources say that the two sides are discussing a possible merger.
TPLF was declared a terrorist group by the Ethiopian parliament in 2021 during the war. After Pretoria, terrorist designation was lifted in 2023. But TPLF’s status as a political party was not restored. TPLF has been urging the federal government and National Election Board of Ethiopia to restore its status.
The two rounds of talks between PP and TPLF were held in Mekelle and Addis Ababa respectively. While TPLF is fighting for political survival, joining PP would be a difficult decision for TPLF to be made. Some sections of TPLF’s support base in Tigray say that it would be a political suicide for TPLF if it joined PP.
Tigray People’s Liberation Front however issued a statement today dismissing reports of talks about merger with PP as “completely untrue”.
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