Getachew Reda says he is not angry over exit as leader

• Ethiopia election “less a test of popularity than a measure of public discontent,” says Getachew

Former Tigray’s interim President Getachew Reda said he was not particularly angered by his removal from office, arguing that his mandate had already run its course, according to an interview out on Wednesday.

“I am not particularly angry about my ouster. I tried, as much as I could, to introduce some elements of sanity into our politics. I probably failed—not miserably, but I failed nonetheless,” Getachew Reda said in an interview with Turkey’s state-owned broadcaster TRT World, where he was interviewed by senior presenter Andrea Sanke.

He added that, in his view, his departure had been long overdue, noting that the position was intended to be a two-year term and that the mandate had already expired. Getachew said he harbored no personal resentment toward the rival who replaced him, despite what he described as efforts to push him out of office.

Following the end of the two-year war (November 2020–November 2022) and the Pretoria Agreement, internal divisions within the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) led to the surprise removal of Getachew in March 2025. He subsequently fled the Tigray region for Addis Ababa, amid the power struggle. He has since been appointed as an adviser to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on East African affairs, marking a striking reversal for a former senior figure who was once a fierce critic of Abiy, whom he accused of atrocities during the war in Tigray.

“The guy who took over did everything to take over from me, and if I had to be angry, I should be equally, if not more, angry at him. That is not the case,” he said, in remarks that appeared to refer to Lieutenant General Tadesse Werede.

Getachew Reda’s latest appearance, in which he reflected on the June 1 parliamentary and regional polls, was a candid interview revisiting his brief and turbulent tenure as interim president, as well as the political fallout that followed his removal from off

Asked about the elections held on Monday widely expected to give Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s party a large majority, Getachew said that in the past, the ruling party he once belonged to had secured “90-something percent” of the vote, adding that there are various explanations for such outcomes.“The optics don’t look right. I am not particularly proud of people winning 90 percent of the vote,” he said.

He also noted that, under the country’s electoral system, the presence of multiple candidates in a constituency does not require a party to reach a majority threshold such as 50 or 80 percent. Instead, the candidate with the highest number of votes wins the seat.

“As a result, a party that performs well across multiple constituencies still end up winning few or no seats, depending on how those votes are distributed,” he expalined.

He acknowledged that the system can produce outcomes that may appear unfair, but added that this is how the constitution and electoral framework are designed.

Asked about why voting did not take place in some constituencies, Getachew Reda said that in several areas of Amhara and Oromia, people still went to the polls despite pressure and insecurity from armed opposition groups. By contrast, he said the situation in Tigray was fundamentally different,

But in the case of Tigray, he said his former party had “abandoned all notion of fair play and justice,” and had sought to take control of all aspects of the region through what he described as a coup against the interim administration and its president. He added that the leadership was unable to provide security, leaving little space for any meaningful political action in such circumstances.

Getachew Reda also reflected on the opposition’s poor electoral performance, noting that millions of people support the prime minister and his policies, while millions of others oppose them for various reasons.“But this particular election, as far as I am concerned, is less a test of his popularity than a measure of how dissatisfied and uncomfortable many people have become with the current political situation,” he said.

He pointed to ongoing insecurity, describing “low-level conflicts and violence” in parts of the country. Recalling his time in Jimma, he said voters turned out “in droves,” even in difficult conditions. “In some areas, opposition elements tried to stop the voting, even using firearms and explosives, but thousands of people still came out to vote,” he said.