On the morning of September 9, 2020, four hours before the Tigray Regional State opened polling stations, volunteers were busy making sure everything was in place including the marks on the ground indicating how far apart voters should stand to avoid overcrowding, a precaution to contain the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

At 6:00am, the polling station was opened for voters, who lined up on the marked ground to cast their votes in a historic regional election despite the ''null and void'' ruling of the federal government.

As part of the 8,000 youth trained by the Regional Election Commission to support the electoral system, the volunteers served many roles at electoral stations across the State. Administering the polling stations along with the Commission were many groups like the Adi Haqi Shoe Shiners Association, which organised a poll at a district in the region’s capital, Meqelle.

Even voters in their excitement had arrived as early as 1:00am, singing and dancing to pass the time. Meraf Bahta, a resident who works in a construction material supply firm, and her friends were some of them.

“We couldn’t get any sleep,” she said. “So we went to a nearby station.”

Other early arrivers included elderly women draped in traditional cotton dresses and hairstyles, albaso. They were busy preparing food and coffee for election observers and organisers, giving directions to voters and journalists and even helping with the pat-down of female voters as they made their way into the stations. New journalists had a tougher time in one such station, as volunteers were more welcoming to the familiar faces in some stations.

The over 2,600 polling stations accommodated almost all of the 2.7 million voters across the region. Tigray has 38 electoral districts as demarcated by the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia based on the seats the Regional State has in the country’s parliament.

The 152 seats in the region’s Council are made up of four candidates running in each of the 38 districts, and each voter was able to cast four votes at their respective polling station. The 38 additional seats in the State Council would be determined by a closed candidates list.

The preliminary count announced by the Commission has shown the incumbent, Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), leading by margins as high as 80pc.

The outcome of the election has surprised many. Some express their disappointment that the four opposition parties did not receive more votes.

Goitom Mekonen, a lecturer at Adigrat University, served as a non-member observer for Salsay Woyane Tigray, an opposition party, in Adigrat. He was a mobile observer moving between six stations to observe the electoral process.

“There was a lot of support on social media for opposition parties, and I had hoped to see that reflected in the votes,” he said. “They need to mobilise grassroots support, so we can reap the benefit of a multiparty democratic system.”

Even so, he is still encouraged by the process. Despite the low share of votes for the opposition, the whole process would have been unimaginable in the last election, according to him.

One inconsistency he noticed was in the voter education process.

Some polling stations gave sufficient directions to voters upon arrival, while others just went straight to the voting process. And though the counting process was clear and open, according to Goitom, discrepancies took time to solve.

“We would reach different numbers of votes for one candidate and had to recount votes, which took a lot of time,” he said.

Despite Goitom's disappointment in the turnout, many still defend their choice for the incumbent citing its work in improving infrastructure and facilities in the country.

Mehret Gebremedhin, a mother of two, aged 20 and 17, is one voter that has cast her vote for TPLF.