Ethiopians Voted in the Millions, But Not Everywhere: IGAD

Jun 3 , 2026.

Millions cast ballots, while security concerns prevented elections from being conducted in 38 constituencies in the Tigray and eight in the Amhara regional states, leaving a substantial portion of the political map outside the vote.

Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe (MD), former vice president of Uganda and head of the IGAD Election Observation Mission, made her report with the most consequential finding public. Today’s scene at the Skylight Hotel, on Africa Avenue (Bole Road), captured the paradox of the national elections.

A vote presented as a “significant milestone,” has been shadowed by insecurity, uneven participation and logistical bottlenecks that exposed the limits of the country’s electoral machinery.

The election involved 42 political parties and over 10,000 candidates across 501 constituencies. Out of over 54 million registered voters, 46pc of whom were women, approximately 5.3 million were registered digitally through the locally developed Mirchaya system. Close to 74pc have cast their votes through midnight on Monday, June 1, 2026, disclosed Melatwerk Hailu, chief of the national electoral board.

Wandira-Kazibwe highly commended the modernisation effort, along with the use of GIS mapping for 52,000 polling stations. Her Mission, which deployed 26 observers across seven regional states, assessment was not merely a catalogue of logistical achievement.

She voiced concern that women remain critically underrepresented as candidates and in leadership roles compared to their proportion of the population. They accounted for nearly half of registered voters, but their presence in the ranks of candidates and political leadership remained far below their demographic weight.

The pressure on the electoral system was also visible on polling day. “Long cues” led to a six-hour extension of voting in areas such as Addis Abeba. According to tday.Mssion, inconsistencies in information flow from the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) head office to regional stations caused implementation gaps during the extension, revealing that decisions made at the centre did not always translate smoothly across the country’s polling network.

Despite these shortcomings,  the Mission observed orderly and peaceful participation in the areas it covered. Kazibwe’s report noted the “true hospitality” of stations that provided chairs and coffee for citizens who stayed until after midnight to vote, an anecdote that stood out against the more technical language of election administration.

The IGAD Mission’s called on the  Election Board to reduce the voter cap to 1,000 a station, strengthen cybersecurity, and enact affirmative action to address the underrepresentation of women and youth candidates.

Kazibwe’s report ultimately framed the June 1 vote as “an election of progress and constraint.”

PUBLISHED ON Jun 03,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1362]