Abstract:
Abstract
Ethiopia design ethnic based federal state structure to respond to the challenges of minorities
by developing a counter-majority institutional system. However, the ethnic based federal state
structure also creates local tyranny in which the ethno-territorial organization of the federating unites
of Ethiopia left a number of non-territorial peoples of the country out of the constitutional recognition
under the regional constitutions. As one of the regional state of Ethiopia, Oromia Regional State, is the
major regional state which large number of non-territorial minorities are found. Minding this, this
paper attempts to assess the rights to electoral participation and representation of non-territorial
minorities in Oromia Regional State/Ethiopia. In doing so, different documents were used as data
sources. Finally, as the data reveals, the Oromo use the regional autonomy for complete identification
of their ethnic group and the non-territorial minorities clearly lack legal and institutional protection in
the regional states.
