House of Federation’s Decision to Strip Tigray of Electoral Authority Over Five Districts Threatens the Pretoria Agreement and Constitutional Order

Omna Tigray calls on the international community and the U.S. Congress to condemn this dangerous escalation ahead of Ethiopia’s 7th General Election

Omna Tigray condemns Ethiopia’s House of Federation’s (HoF) decision to remove five electoral districts—Humera, Adi Remets, Tselemti, Korem Ofla, and Raya Alamata—from Tigray’s regional oversight for the upcoming 7th General Election, scheduled for June 2, 2026. This decision, communicated to the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) in a letter dated February 3, 2026, represents a direct assault on the 2022 Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (CoHA, Pretoria Agreement), Ethiopia’s constitutional framework, and the rights of the Tigrayan people.

The House of Federation has ordered that federal parliamentary elections in these five districts be conducted independently of both the Tigray and Amhara regional administrations until “administrative ownership” is resolved. Regional council elections have been suspended entirely. By treating constitutionally-recognized Tigrayan territory as “contested,” the Ethiopian government is once again legitimizing the continued occupation of approximately 40% of Tigray’s pre-war territory by non-Tigrayan armed forces—an occupation that has persisted since November 2020.

What This Decision Means

This is not a procedural matter. It is an attempt to formalize the ethnic cleansing of Western and Southern Tigray through an electoral framework. In the ethnic cleansing campaigns that have been a part of the genocidal war on Tigray, Amhara forces allied to the Ethiopian government  have forcibly displaced hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans and prevented them from returning home. Human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, have extensively documented ongoing post-Pretoria Agreement displacement, forced expulsions, and systematic restrictions on the return of Tigrayan residents to Western and Southern Tigray. Holding elections in these areas without the return of displaced Tigrayans does not constitute democracy—it constitutes the electoral ratification of dispossession, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.

A main tenant of the Pretoria Agreement was the restoration of Tigray’s constitutional territorial integrity and the return of displaced populations. The House of Federation’s decision directly undermines these foundational commitments. As the President of the Tigray Interim Administration stated yesterday, this decision “openly contravenes both the Constitution and the Pretoria Agreement” and risks “grave and far-reaching consequences.” Tigray’s rejection of Abiy Ahmed cancelling the April 2020 national and regional elections was a main contributor to the start of the genocidal war on Tigray in November 2020. This decision by the House of Federation risks being the same.

A Unified Rejection Across Tigray’s Political Spectrum

It is significant that this decision has been rejected across Tigray’s entire political landscape. In addition to the condemnation from the Tigray Interim Administration, the Getachew Reda-led and Tigray Democratic Solidarity (Simret) has described the decision as “unconstitutional” and warned that it “crushes institutional independence” and amounts to “constitutional anarchy.” Simret has threatened to boycott the elections if the decision is not reversed. When a party led by the Prime Minister’s own advisor publicly denounces a federal decision as destabilizing, the gravity of the situation cannot be overstated.

An Alarming Pattern of Escalation

This decision does not exist in isolation. It comes amid a deeply alarming trajectory of developments that 20 human rights organizations have warned place Ethiopia “on the brink” of renewed large-scale conflict. As Omna Tigray detailed in our February 19 urgent call for peace, after years of the Ethiopian government failing to end the occupation of Western Tigray, fighting broke out in Tselemti on January 26. This was followed by Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) drone strikes that killed a civilian in Central Tigray on January 31, and since February 7 the ENDF has been mass-redeploying forces toward Tigray from Amhara and Oromia–where conflict has been ongoing. A Western diplomatic source told AFP the ENDF is “encircling Tigray,” while UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned the situation is “highly volatile.” In addition, three former senior Tigray military commanders have fled to Addis Ababa, and the Tigray Interim Administration publicly denied reports that it authorized federal troop deployments into the region. The TPLF’s legal status as a political party was revoked by NEBE in May 2025. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has publicly called for de-escalation in northern Ethiopia. 

Against this backdrop, the House of Federation’s decision to strip Tigray of electoral authority over its own territory is not merely destabilizing—it is a provocation.

Our Demands

Omna Tigray calls on the Ethiopian government to immediately reverse the House of Federation’s decision and restore the five electoral districts to Tigray’s regional administration in accordance with the pre-war constitutional framework.

We demand the full implementation of the Pretoria Agreement, including the withdrawal of non-Tigrayan armed forces from all occupied territories, the safe and voluntary return of all displaced Tigrayans, and the restoration of Tigray’s constitutional territorial integrity before any elections are held in these areas.

We call on the United States Congress to publicly condemn this decision, to press the Ethiopian government on Pretoria Agreement compliance, and to use all available diplomatic tools—including conditions on security assistance and multilateral engagement—to prevent the further disenfranchisement of the Tigrayan people.

We urge the African Union, the European Union, and international mediators to intervene and ensure that the June 2026 elections do not become an instrument for legitimizing territorial seizure and ethnic cleansing.

We call on international election observation bodies to assess whether credible elections can be held in occupied territories where the original population has been expelled and is prevented from returning.

The people of Tigray did not survive a genocidal war only to have their homeland carved away through bureaucratic manipulation. Elections without the displaced population are not elections—they are the administrative completion of ethnic cleansing. The international community must not look away.