A voter stops by to check out results at a polling station in Arada District, Addis Abeba, where the counting of results for the national elections last week has been posted on a notice board. The verdict by voters for city council seats is marked in light blue and purple for Parliament. The result for the latter is visible – the candidate for the incumbent Prosperity Party (PP) has come out on top in this constituency.

The National Election Board is yet to formally announce results for the national elections, which it is legally obligated to do before July 1. Still, there were some surprising takeaways from polling day, including the steep losses candidates from major opposition parties such as the Ethiopian Citizens for Social Justice (Ezema), the National Movement of Amhara (NaMA) and Balderas for True Democracy seem to have suffered in the constituencies thought to be their social bases.

Most notable was voters' turnout, in sharp contrast to what seemed to be apathy during the early registration period. Elections monitors deployed by the African Union (AU), under Nigeria's former president Olusegun Obasanjo, declared the process and outcome of the elections as "orderly, peaceful and credible."

The day's protagonist was the Electoral Board, whose chief, Birtukan Midekssa, briefed the media twice on polling day. Some of the Board's logistical and technical muddle ups have been somewhat embarrassing, especially on mixing up the ballot papers polling stations were set to receive. To the Board’s relief, these have been deemed “understandable” by the African Union observer mission.