Ethiopia's ruling coalition says it will choose a successor to late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at a meeting that begins Friday.

The council of the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front is set to hold a two-day meeting in Addis Ababa where it will pick a new chairperson.

A spokesman tells VOA the chairperson will “most likely” be Ethiopia's new prime minister as well.

Mr. Meles led Ethiopia for 21 years before his death last month from an unidentified illness.

Officials initially said Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn would take his place, but Hailemariam was never sworn in.