Logistical Triumphs, Bursts of Violence Shadow as Voters Head to the Ballot Box

Jun 1 , 2026.

Inside the gleaming and high-ceilinged ballroom of the Skylight Hotel, on Africa Avenue (Bole Road), a delayed press conference became a window into the uneasy electral process today, June 1, 2026.

Melatwork Hailu, chief of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), stepped to the microphone after two postponements this morning, carrying figures larger than administrative routine. The seventh national election was proceeding, but under the weight of security fears, digital confusion, uneven observation and the sheer logistics of managing a vote across a vast country.

Out of 50,964 polling stations nationwide, Melatwork reported that 50,158 opened on time. Another 659 overcame morning problems and opened within the hour. But 143 polling stations never opened at all, judged too dangerous for voters and officials because of imminent security risks.

Four more were forced to shut down during voting after gunfire or threats breached the perimeter. Behind those figures stood stark human loss. In Enemor Polling Station, Melatwork confirmed, a local NEBE logistics chief was killed in a motorcycle accident while rushing to deliver voting materials.

"The process is moving forward," Melatwork said, noting that out of 359,000 deployed NEBE officials, 350,000 had reported to their posts.

However, beyond the polished marble of the capital, the day was already dividing into two narratives. One was civic participation, visible in long queues and officials trying to keep order. The other was of disruption, confusion and violence, exposing the frailty of the institutional project NEBE is trying to defend.

By midmorning, the early stillness of Addis Abeba had given way to the familiar hum of movement. Roads that had been quiet began to fill with minibuses, high-capacity buses and taxis, carrying voters and workers through the capital and nearby areas such as Koye Feche. But the calm traffic did not mean a frictionless vote.

At Shalla Park polling station in Bole area, many voters, particularly those who had registered digitally, struggled to cast ballots.

According to election officials, some arrived without knowing their designated polling station. Others, after registering online, turned up at random stations and were denied service once officials confirmed they had been assigned elsewhere. They were instructed to go to their proper locations.

Some had begun the online registration process but had not completed it, leaving them ineligible. Several waited for extended periods while trying to verify their status, and some said their mobile phones had run out of battery, preventing access to digital registration details.

Voters who had lost their identification cards also encountered difficulty, though officials helped by searching registration records and facilitating participation when details could be verified. Workers arriving from jobs, including hotel employees and drivers, asked to be allowed to vote first before returning to work. Officials refused, directing them to join the regular queue. Some left without voting.

Almaz Wondmu, an election official at Shalla Park, acknowledged the difficulty.

"Some voters came to the wrong polling station, while others had not completed their online registration process," she told Fortune. "There were also voters who said their phones had died, making it difficult for them to access their registration information."

Long lines were also seen in many areas. Melatwork attributed the queues partly to digital registration, stating the system had removed double registration, while manually printed voter lists arranged in Amharic alphabetical order had become a problem for digitally registered voters.

“The Board had added people to check voters’ names and determine the correct page of the registries,” she said.

For areas where citizens had not yet voted, Melatwork stated the Board would decide later. If lines remained long after the official closing time, she said, voters already in the queue would be allowed to cast ballots.

Far from the capital, the election acquired sharper regional textures.

In Bahir Dar, the Amhara Regional State, the morning air was cold. At Kebele 08, Polling Station 1 in Gish Abay District, voters had formed long and silent queues as early as 5:30am. Elderly citizens, wrapped in traditional cotton cloths against the dawn chill, stood at the front. Officials inside spent the early hours adjusting secret voting booths, checking serial numbers and sealing ballot boxes. By 11:51am, at nearby Kebele 09, Polling Station 2, the first ballot was cast.

NEBE’s national tally listed 39,723 independent observers and 41,978 party representatives deployed nationwide. Yet local officials in Bahir Dar’s Kebele 08 saw no opposition party agent or independent domestic observer was present at the opening. A similar pattern was observed in Adama, a commercial center in Oromia RegionalState, and Jigjiga, capital of the Somali RegionalState.

Stations in both cities opened late, between 6:00am and 6:45am. Election workers won local praise for giving priority to physicallychallenged, pregnant and elderly voters, but independent observers were scarce.

In Adama’s Lugo District, where between 355 and 520 votes were recorded at a station by midday, observer benches were filled almost exclusively by representatives of the ruling Prosperity Party. Only two stations had monitors from the Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations for Election and the Ethiopian Association of Women with Disabilities. In Jigjiga, oversight was uniform: only ruling party members and state-vetted public representatives were present.

If the urban centers tell a story of a slow bureaucratic victory, the rural fringes revealed how quickly order could collapse. Outside Bahir Dar, in the rural kebele of Yibab near the Meray axis, the fragile peace of election day broke in seconds. Midmorning, as voters waited in an orderly queue, sustained gunfire echoed through the trees.

"We’re standing in peace, waiting for our turn," Degnet Mulat, a local resident who witnessed the chaos, said by telephone, his voice still shaken. "Then the shots started. Everyone just ran."

Laqe Getachew, another Yibab resident, confirmed that the polling station was abandoned within minutes as voters fled into surrounding fields. According to other locals, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, election officials were forced to abandon their posts, leaving ballot boxes and l election materials in limbo.

Back at the Skylight Hotel, such disruptions became wildcards that could overshadow the final tally.

As the morning gave way to the afternoon, long lines began to thin. In Adama and Jigjiga, officials reported fewer voters as the heat rose. NEBE officials insisted the overall trajectory remained stable.

PUBLISHED ON Jun 01,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1362]