Saba Alemu, 38, waited in line for hours to cast her vote on 21 June. Her favourite candidate – one-time journalist and activist Eskender Nega – was placed on the ballot weeks before the vote as a mayoral candidate in Addis Ababa.
Last year, he had been imprisoned alongside the firebrand Jawar Mohammed Jawar and others; he was not fully able to participate in the election, pushing his candidacy to a fringe status.
“I support Eskender and I have followed his work as a journalist and now a political candidate. I thought he would be a great mayor and politician. He had sacrificed a lot for his belief and it is a pity, he was not able to campaign and garner support,” she tells The Africa Report, reflecting on the collective decade-long imprisonment of the 51-year-old activist during the era of Tigray People’s Liberation Front-led (TPLF) government and now, Abiy.
Mounting complaints from
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