THE DYNAMICS OF PUBLIC FUNDING TO ETHIOPIAN POLITICAL PARTIES: CASE 2021 NATIONAL ELECTIONS

Public funding for political parties has become an increasingly common feature of emerging African democracies, particularly as political organizations face declining private revenues resulting from the weakening of membership-based contributions. In Ethiopia, state financing of political parties has historically influenced successive electoral processes. Following the 2018 political reforms, the country introduced amendments to electoral and media laws ahead of the sixth national elections, including provisions regulating public funding for political parties and the establishment of an independent electoral management body tasked with ensuring transparency and accountability in the use of public resources. Against this backdrop, this study examines the 2021 national and state council elections to assess the effectiveness of the allocation, distribution, and utilization of public funding for political parties. The findings reveal that the consolidated public funding framework failed to address existing financial disparities between the ruling and opposition parties.