Objective 4: To Uphold the Principle of Separation of Powers (including protection of independence of the judiciary and of an effective Parliament) I. Summary of CSAR Constitutional Structure of the Ethiopian Federation 183. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a federation of nine States and two city capitals. The CSAR notes that the Federal Constitution provides in Article 50 that the Federal Government and the States have legislative, executive, and judicial powers. 184. At the Federal level the Constitution establishes two Houses, namely the House of Peoples’ Representatives (HoPR), and the House of the Federation (HoF). At the State level, legislative power is vested in the State Council. The executive power at the federal level is vested in the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, while at the state level, it is vested in the State Administration. Judicial power is also vested in Federal and State courts, respectively. 185. The CSAR stresses that because Ethiopia has adopted the parliamentary form of government, the separation of powers is not as clear-cut as in the presidential form of government. The executive is drawn from, and remains part of, the legislature. The Prime Minister, who is the leader of the party or of a coalition of parties that has the majority of seats in the HoPR, is an elected member of the HoPR. In addition to its legislative function, the HoPR has wide powers of oversight and control over government policy and strategy, and investigates the conduct and activities of the executive in the discharge of its duties. It elects the Prime Minister and approves the appointment of members of the Council of Ministers, Commissioners, and the Auditor-General. The report notes that the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) controls the HoPR as well as the HoF and it observes that “in Ethiopia where the executive emerges from the Parliament and a dominant political party controls the majority in Parliament, the legislature works very closely with the executive.” 186. Furthermore, the CSAR notes that the legislature exercises some degree of control over the judiciary through its power of approval of the appointment and removal of Federal judges, as well as budget approvals for the judiciary. Secondly, it highlights the fact that, notwithstanding the fact that the Constitution vests judicial power in the courts, the power to resolve constitutional disputes - 95 -