Ethiopia’s progress towards being recognised as a democratic republic has largely been hampered by internal elements rather than any external intervention through colonialism, unlike the case for most African countries. Its commitment to socialism ended the age-old monarchical rule in 1974 when the military took over the running of the government and then remained in power for the next 17 successive years. Widespread liberation movements, mostly driven by an ethnic nationalist agenda, finally dealt decisively with Mengistu Hailemariam, the military general, who is currently in Zimbabwe’s capital and has been sentenced to life in prison in abstentia after fleeing the country in 1991.

The current politicalsystem was first used to aid a transitional government and then after consolidating its power on the basis of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Constitution (FDRE Constitution) that was adoptedin 1995. The Constitution not only decentralised governance, including law-making under the federal arrangement, but it also established at the centre a nominally ‘bicameral parliament. Unlike the American model of federation, it has also adopted a parliamentary system which makes the legislative body the highest political establishment from which the executive organ has to emerge. Although it is not as fine-tuned as the presidential system, the legislative body has an oversight function as well as its law-making role, which also includes budgetary decisions on an annual basis.

This bicameralism is said to be nominal due to the fact that the lower house, the House of People‘s Representatives, alone performs law-making, while the upper one, the House of Federation, only serves as an arbiter among the units of the federation through, among other things, exercising its power to interpret the Constitution.