Ailing ruling party veteran officials in Ethiopia are leaving their posts to a group of younger leaders.

Newcomers dominated the ruling party's election of the powerful 36-member executive and 180-member central committees.

But the leadership change doesn't necessarily mean more political space for the country's heavily prosecuted opposition which has only a single member in the 547 parliament seats. Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Monday called the opposition neo-liberal mouthpieces with zero contribution to a developmental state.

In a rare but frank reflection, Meles' long time senior aide and former Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin on Monday admitted that the death of the late leader was a serious problem that tested the party.

"I think we need to draw a lesson from the problem that was created after the martyrdom of our great leader Meles," Seyoum told 1,000 ruling party elites and their supporters that met for the party congress. He told his colleagues that the aging leaders need to retire and the lower officials be prepared to take the wheel.

Seyoum and eight of his colleagues, all veteran members of Meles' Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), have stepped down voluntarily.

Read the full story from The Associated Press