Ethiopians pray for peaceful presidential election

Ethiopian worshippers dressed in white attended a service at Bole Medhanialem Church in Addis Ababa on Sunday to pray for a peaceful presidential election.

Despite reports of low voter registration and calls for boycott of the vote by some opposition parties, worshippers remained hopeful it would be a successful election which would given them a leader who would ensure peace and prosperity.

Ethiopians will be voting Monday in a landmark election overshadowed by reports of famine in the country's war-hit Tigray region and beset by logistical problems that mean some people won't be able to vote until September.

The election is the centerpiece of a reform drive by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, whose rise to power in 2018 seemed to signal a break with decades of authoritarian rule and led to his Nobel Peace Prize the following year. He has described the poll as "the nation's first attempt at free and fair elections."

Abiy's ruling Prosperity Party, formed in 2019 by merging groups who made up the previous ruling coalition, is widely expected to cement its hold on power.

The party that wins a majority of seats in the House of Peoples' Representatives will form the next government.

But opposition groups have accused Ethiopia's ruling party of harassment, manipulation and threats of violence that echo abuses of the past.

And Abiy is facing growing international criticism over the war in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region.