Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
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Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
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| Chairman | Hailemariam Desalegn |
| Deputy Chairman | Demeke Mekonnen |
| Founded | May 1988 |
| Headquarters | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Newspaper | New Vision |
| Youth wing | EPRDF Youth League |
| Women's wing | EPRDF Women's League |
| Membership (2011) | 6,000,000 |
| Ideology |
Current: Revolutionary democracy Until 1991: Marxism-Leninism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Colors | Red and Yellow |
| Seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives |
500 / 547
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| Website | |
| http://www.eprdf.org.et | |
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Cited from party website |
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The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር?; abbreviated EPRDF) is the ruling political coalition in Ethiopia. The front consists of four political parties; the Oromo Peoples' Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement (SEPDM) and the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF).
Before it became the government in 1991, the EPRDF was a rebel group battling the Derg, a military regime led by Mengistu Haile Mariam that was effectively in power from 1974 until it was ousted by the EPRDF in 1991. During this period, the Derg was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of opponents without trial.
The EPRDF was formed by the union of the TPLF and the Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement (EPDM) in early 1989; they were later joined by the OPDO (the Oromo members of the TPLF, EPLF, and EPDM) and the Ethiopian Democratic Officers’ Revolutionary Movement (a small body of Derg officers captured by TPLF, most notably at Shire in February 1989, which was later disbanded after the establishment of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia).
In the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Mengistu government, the EPRDF gained support from the United States. Michael Johns, an Africa expert with the Heritage Foundation, wrote in 1991 that "there are some modestly encouraging signs that the front intends to abandon Mengistu's autocratic practices." Observers have had concerns since then about the EPRDF's treatment of the opposition, particularly the validity of the 2005 and 2010 elections.
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