Ethiopian Revolution in the context of "Ethiopian general election, 1987"

On 12 September 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a military junta that consequently ruled Ethiopia as the Derg until 28 May 1991.

In February 1974, the Ethiopian Revolution was accompanied by mutinies of units of the Imperial Army, which were ignited over resentment of low payment. The Derg established the Coordinating Council of the Armed Forces in June 1974, and grew rapidly to topple the ministers of Haile Selassie under Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen. Upon deposing the emperor, many of his personages and Imperial family members fled to London like Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen. On 27 March 1975, the Derg officially abolished the monarchy and the Ethiopian Empire as a whole, and began implementing a Marxist-Leninist system, along with nationalizing all properties. Haile Selassie died on 27 August, with different sources attributing his death to strangulation by the order of the military government or natural causes during a prostate operation.

Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማርያም, pronunciation: [mənɡɨstu haɪlə marjam]; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991, chairman of the Derg—the Marxist–Leninist military junta that ruled Ethiopia—from 1977 to 1987, and president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.

The Derg seized power in the Ethiopian Revolution following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, marking the end of the Solomonic dynasty which had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century. Mengistu purged his rivals within the Derg and made himself dictator of Ethiopia, attempting to modernize the feudal economy of Ethiopia through Marxist–Leninist-inspired policies such as nationalization and land redistribution. His bloody consolidation of power in 1977–1978 is known as the Ethiopian Red Terror—a brutal crackdown on opposition groups and civilians following a failed assassination attempt by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) in September 1976, after it had ignored the Derg's invitation to join the union of socialist parties. The death toll is unknown but is estimated at between 30,000 and 750,000 by the Ethiopian Red Terror Documentation and Research Center.

This is a list of presidents of Ethiopia, and also a list of heads of state after the fall of the Ethiopian Empire in 1974.

Until the Ethiopian Revolution of 1974, the heads of state of Ethiopia were either emperors or regents. From the coup d'état of the Derg leading to the fall of the empire in September 1974 until March 1975, the Derg considered the crown prince Asfaw Wossen (later regnal name Amha Selassie) as the king (not emperor) and the nominal head of state – which the crown prince refused to accept. During this time, the chairmen of the Derg, the leaders of the Derg, were to be considered as acting heads of state. On 21 March 1975, the Derg military junta abolished the monarchy and fully took over. Until the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1987, still dominated by Derg figures, chairmen of the Derg have to be considered heads of state – but not presidents. After the fall of the Derg and the establishment of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia in 1991, the first immediate president (Meles Zenawi) has to be considered an Interim President.