Ethiopian parliament speaker resigns after election delay

The speaker at Ethiopia's parliament says she is resigning after accusing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration of unconstitutional attempts to stay in power.

Keria Ibrahim, who is the speaker of Ethiopia's upper house of parliament, called the House of Federations, says she doesn’t want to be part of a process in which “the constitution is being violated and an authoritarian government is being formed”.

Ethiopia has postponed parliamentary elections, due in August, over the coronavirus pandemic.

This has prompted a constitutional crisis as the government’s term expires in October.

Speaking to members of the lower house of parliament on Monday, Mr Abiy rejected the idea of forming a transitional government after October.

Ms Keria who is a member of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), announced her resignation amid growing tension between her party and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s Prosperity Party.

The TPLF had been a dominant member of Ethiopia’s ruling coalition - the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) - since the early 1990s. But Mr Abiy restructured and rebranded it - without the TPLF - as the Prosperity Party.

The TPLF had previously said that it wanted to go ahead with the elections.