THE LONG QUEUE TO LEGITIMACY

Jun 7 , 2026.

An estimated 40 million Ethiopians turned out for last week's elections, a 74pc turnout rate, according to federal electoral officials. However, the polls exposed a fragile administrative infrastructure caught between unalphabetised paper registries and a new digital system, compelling electoral officials to extend voting by six hours past sunset to clear stalled queues, even as political deadlock completely locked out voters in one regional state and active regional insecurity in parts of another, report our staff writers: Keturah Kampbell, Bezawit Huluhager, Nahom Ayele, Dagim Siefe, Mastewal Zemene, Helina Hadgu, and Ye'absira Taye, as well as Daniel Kifle (Adama), Tazabew Alamerew (Bahir Dar) and Sherif Asheraf (Jigjiga).

Before sunrise in Addis Abeba's Lemi Kura District, charcoal braziers glowed beside Polling Sub-Station 120, their thin blue smoke drifting over a traditional coffee ceremony and a line of voters already stiff with cold.

Wegayehu, a gatekeeper at an unfinished concrete house nearby, had taken his place by 4:00am. He was seventh in line. He would not cast his ballot until 7:15am.

The scene was intimate, ordinary, yet it carried the burden of a national test that would stretch from the capital's crowded neighbourhoods to constituencies silenced by insecurity and stations left waiting for electoral materials.

"Only six people were ahead of me," he said, gazing at the queue curling down the unpaved road.

His wait became a small measure of the seventh national and regional elections held on Monday, June 1, 2026. It was calm enough to proceed across most of the country, slow enough to test public patience, and uneven enough to expose the fragility of an election system asked to manage insecurity, paper registers, digital registration and apathy on a national scale.

More than 54 million citizens had been registered to vote, women accounting for 46pc. About 5.3 million registered digitally through the locally developed “Mirchaya” system. The ballot brought together 42 political parties and more than 10,000 candidates across 501 constituencies, while a large part of Tigray Regional State and eight constituencies in Amhara did not vote due to security conditions.

By 8:00pm on the day, Melatewerk Hailu, chairwoman of the National Election Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), disclosed preliminary data,  declaring at least 40 million voters had cast ballots, a turnout of about 74pc if confirmed through formal tabulation. Melatwerk called the election “mostly successful.”

Her briefings also revealed a process held together by persistence and improvisation.

Out of 50,964 polling stations, 98.4pc opened on time and 659 opened within an hour after early problems were addressed. Another 143 did not open because of security risks, while four stations were closed during voting after gunfire or threats breached the perimeter.

The Board also disclosed that a local logistics chief died in a motorcycle accident while rushing voting materials to Enemor, Gurage Zone of the Central Ethiopia Regional State.

"The process is moving forward," Melatewerk said, noting that almost 97pc of the 359,000 election officials she deployed across the country had reported to duty.

In the capital, the first pressure point appeared before dawn. At Jagema Kelo polling station in Nifas Silk Lafto District, hundreds of voters in white cotton shawls and winter jackets had been waiting since 5:00am.

Addis Abeba’s Mayor, Adanech Abiebie, was expected to vote there, drawing security officers and media to a station with about 1,500 registered voters. Instructions were delayed until 6:20am, and the line advanced slowly as elderly voters and nursing mothers were moved forward.

Aberash Bogale, 22, from the Gerji area, had arrived at 2:00am.

"I just came for the sake of voting," she said, cold and eager to return home for breakfast.

The Mayor later said voting was proceeding in a "very democratic, free, fair, and transparent manner." She appealed for patience.

"Even if it gets late, even if challenges arise, whether rain or sun, citizens should remain patient and vote peacefully until the end," she said. "Whoever is elected today will later be accountable to the people who placed them in office."

Across Addis Abeba, it was less orderly. In Bole District's Wereda 4, voters faced a ballot with 122 regional candidates and 13 parliamentary candidates. At the Pensioners Association polling station, a dispute broke out after electoral representatives removed five voters from a registry of 833 without an explanation, prompting objections from election agents from the opposition coalition Andnet and the ruling Prosperity Party (PP).

At Gerji Wereda 13, women carrying children were regularly moved ahead, angering voters who had waited for hours.

Mirchaya, the technology intended to modernise registration and prevent double registration, became a new source of confusion. In Kirkos District, a voter who had registered online was turned away when his name was missing from the manual ledger. He remained in line, trying to establish eligibility with an SMS confirmation.

At Shalla Park in the Bole area, electoral officials encountered some voters arriving at the wrong station, others had not completed online registration, and some could not retrieve registration details because their phones were dead.

"Some voters came to the wrong polling station, while others had not completed their online registration process," said Almaz Wondmu, an election official at Shalla Park. "There were also voters who said their phones had died, making it difficult for them to access their registration information."

At Yeka Health Centre, Kassaw Amsalu (MD), a veterinary health professional and father of two, arrived at 7:45am and was still waiting more than four hours later. Officials were checking voters against a single ledger of 1,500 names, neither alphabetised nor sorted by voter number.

"A country isn’t built in a single day," Kassaw said. "By voting today, I feel I’m fulfilling my responsibility to leave a peaceful and democratic country for my children tomorrow."

For others, democracy was measured against the price of survival. Outside the Lemi Kura station, Merid Beshir, 64, a retired head of the Wellega Agriculture Development Trade Bureau, watched from Michael Bakery and reduced the election's promise to a single demand.

"I just want peace," he said. "If the war stops, the cost of living will also improve."

After sunset, patience became the election's operating principle. With long queues still standing and digital verification failing in parts of Addis Abeba, NEBE extended voting by six hours, ordering stations to remain open until voters already in line had cast ballots.

In Arada District's Wereda 5, only 400 of 1,148 registered voters had been processed by 6:00pm. In Kirkos, fewer than 750 of 1,500 had voted. At Jagema Kelo, about 300 voters remained in line into the evening.

"The number of voters and the available staff are not balanced," said Sultan Juhar, an election official at Jagema Kelo. "There should have been additional workforce. We’re to work for 24 hours. If more staff had been deployed at this station, the process would have been completed much faster."

However, election monitors from domestic, regional and continental organisations described the overall vote as calm. Their preliminary findings, released on June 3, neither endorsed nor rejected the election. They depicted a process that functioned in most locations while exposing weaknesses in administration, secrecy, access and counting.

The calm was not universal, though. In Bahir Dar, Amhara Regional State, where Temesgen Tiruneh, the deputy prime minister who ran on a federal ballot, was on the ballot, voters formed cold, quiet lines from 5:30am, but observers found no opposition party agent or independent domestic observer at some polling stations.

Similar patterns appeared in Adama and Jigjiga, in Oromia and Somali regional states, where ruling-party agents dominated observer benches. In Yibab, near Bahir Dar, voting collapsed after gunfire erupted near a polling station.

"We're standing in peace, waiting for our turn," said Degnet Mulat, a resident who witnessed the scene. "Then the shots started. Everyone just ran."

The Coalition of Ethiopian Civil Society Organisations for Elections (CECSO), the country's largest domestic observer group, deployed 3,373 monitors, including 867 mobile observers, covering about 15pc of polling stations. According to its leader, Sahlesellasie Abebe, voting proceeded without interruption in about 98pc of stations it monitored.

Addressing the media at the Golden Tulip Hotel on the afternoon of the polling date, the Coalition released its granular findings. Observers were denied entry at three polling stations, while in seven others, they could not verify whether ballot boxes had been inspected and confirmed empty before voting began at 6:00am.

Observers were told to leave polling compounds while voting was underway in 27 stations and during counting in 16. Campaign materials or activities appeared within the 200-metre exclusion zone around 11 stations.

The Coalition reported that at 130 polling stations, between one and 10 people voted without proper identification or without appearing on registration lists. In eight stations, more than 10 people voted under similar conditions. Eligible voters with identification and names on the rolls were denied ballots in 46 stations, and at two stations, more than 10 voters were affected.

Ballot secrecy was compromised in 151 polling stations, where between one and 10 voters were affected, and in another 18 stations where more than 10 were affected. In 77 polling stations, polling workers were seen marking ballot papers, the Coalition disclosed.

"Reported breaches included individuals following voters into booths or asking to see completed ballots," Sahlesellasie said, stating his group had no mandate to judge the fairness or legitimacy of results.

However, counting brought further warning signs. According to the Coalition, counting began the following day at 59 polling stations and at other locations, with officials displaying fatigue and special circumstances. Observers recorded interruptions in 34 stations, while counting had not taken place at 26 when the report was compiled. In 12 stations, they reported interference and threats against polling workers.

Party agents were present in 65pc of stations, as seen by the Coalition. Threats, verbal abuse or physical attacks involving polling officials, observers or party representatives were recorded in 26 stations, while heads of polling stations received complaints in 55 stations.

The African Union (AU) Election Observation Mission, headed by Uhuru Kenyatta, former president of Kenya, reached a broader but similar conclusion. It called the environment "calm," praised election officials for "professionalism", and voters for "patience."

It found voters were turned away in three percent of stations visited because they were at the wrong station or their names could not be found on the official register.

According to the AU Mission, polling was suspended in 46 constituencies, and about 6,400 polling stations had remained inactive during registration. Kenyatta called the limit of 1,500 voters a station "undoubtedly too high," stating it constrained polling workers, clogged facilities and "in some cases, compromised ballot secrecy."

The Mission urged NEBE to reduce and standardise the voter cap, improve layouts, protect ballot secrecy, promote women's participation and sustain inclusive political dialogue.

The IGAD Election Observation Mission, led by Speciosa Wandira-Kazibwe (MD), former vice president of Uganda, also called the vote “peaceful and calm,” with its 26 observers deployed across seven regional states. It commended “Mirchaya” and the GIS mapping of all polling stations, but noted that women and youth remained underrepresented among candidates and party leaders. It praised chairs and coffee offered to citizens who stayed past midnight as local hospitality, while urging federal electoral officials to cut the voter cap to 1,000 a station, strengthen cybersecurity and adopt affirmative action.

By June 3, the election had moved from polling stations to constituency aggregation. Melatewerk disclosed that vote counting had been completed nationwide and that results had been posted at the station level. The Board was preparing to hold additional voting on June 9 in military camps and sites hosting internally displaced persons, with their ballots to be included before final results are declared.

"Voting in military camps and IDP sites can be completed within a relatively short period," said Melatwerk, addressing the media the following day. "However, if we encounter circumstances beyond our control, we can, in accordance with the law, extend the result announcement process by up to 20 days."

The Board had received one official complaint from the Kucha Democratic Party. Melatewerk called complaints a "normal part of the electoral process" and warned parties against declaring victory before certification.

"That is the Board's work," she said.

That work began under pressure. She dismissed two employees for alleged procedural violations as counting continued in Oromia, Amhara, Somali, Gambella, Sidama and most regional states as well as Addis Abeba. Melatwerk disclosed that monitoring teams had removed unauthorised plainclothes administrative and security personnel from voting compounds and were investigating reports that party agents used Board badges to obstruct journalists.

The Board was also comparing physical records with digital material circulating online, including videos and documents that appeared to mimic official stamps. In Burji, Oromia Regional State, it ordered the closure of a polling station after local officials were allegedly caught marking ballots. Voting remained suspended in Mekosa, while Bilo Pa was scheduled for voting on June 2. In Kuta Ber, four of 19 stations remained closed, and Kerha awaited security improvements.

Nonetheless, the election's first verdict was narrow but consequential. Ethiopians voted mostly in peace. Whether that peace hardens into confidence will depend on the slower and more contested work of aggregation, complaint review and certification.

PUBLISHED ON Jun 07,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1362]