1987 Constitution of Ethiopia

The 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia was the third constitution of Ethiopia, and went into effect on 22 February 1987 after a referendum on 1 February of that year. Its adoption inaugurated the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE).

The document consisted of seventeen chapters and 119 articles. The preamble traced Ethiopia's origins back to antiquity, proclaimed the historical heroism of its people, praised the country's substantial natural and human resources, and pledged to continue the struggle against imperialism, poverty, and hunger. The government's primary concern was proclaimed to be the country's development through the implementation of the Program for the National Democratic Revolution, which Mengistu Haile Mariam had proclaimed in a speech 20 April 1976. In the process, it was assumed that the material and technical bases necessary for establishing socialism would be created.

The constitution attempted to situate Ethiopia in the context of the worldwide movement of "progressive states" and made no direct reference to Africa. Critics claim that the constitution was no more than an abridged version of the 1977 Soviet constitution, with the exception of the sweeping powers vested in the presidency. A second difference between the Ethiopian and Soviet constitutions is that the former declared the country to be a unitary state rather than a union of republics. It was reported that the problem of nationalities was hotly debated in the Constitutional Commission, as well as in the WPE Central Committee, but the regime would not abandon its desire to create a single multiethnic state rather than a federation.

The 835-member legislature, the National Shengo, was defined as the highest organ of state power. Its members were elected to five-year terms. Executive power was vested in a president, elected by the National Shengo for a five-year term, and a cabinet also appointed by the Shengo. The president was chairman of the Council of State, which acted for the legislature between sessions.

Actual power, however, rested in the Workers' Party of Ethiopia, defined as the leading force of state and society. More specifically, actual power rested with Mengistu, who was not only president of the country but general secretary of the WPE. He and the other surviving members of the Derg dominated the WPE's Politburo. In essence, the power structure set up by the constitution was a carbon copy of the power structure in other Communist countries. The party was granted even more power than the government, which acted more or less as a transmission belt for the party. The National Shengo, while nominally vested with great lawmaking powers, actually did little more than rubber-stamp decisions made by the WPE and its Politburo.

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