Voting opened in the ethnic Somali region of Ethiopia, while a partial re-run vote was held in other districts where irregularities were too high back in May. Not that it matters, at this point.

JIJIGA, Ethiopia — Voting in eastern Ethiopia ended peacefully Sunday, as elite forces, pro-government militia and police patrolled streets to secure the region’s delayed elections.

Voters in the mostly ethnic Somali region, some armed with assault rifles, gathered at sunrise at polling stations to elect 23 federal lawmakers and 168 regional legislators. Some voters said they hoped the election would bring a way out of poverty for the region.

General elections were held in the rest of the country on May 15. But voting in the Somali region was made difficult by heavy rains, poor communications, the region’s nomadic lifestyle and the presence of separatist rebels.

In a sign that tensions were high, police fired shots into the air to disperse voters who rushed a polling station in the regional capital, Jijiga, to protest delays in voting. One woman was injured in the stampede, but minutes later, hundreds returned to cast ballots as troops, police and militiamen kept watch.

“Overall the voting has gone smoothly,” said Kemal Bedri, chairman of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia.

The elections were not trouble free. A Western electoral observer noted that voting in the remote Somali region “has been very chaotic, although relatively calm, and lots of irregularities.”

The observer, who did not want to be identified because of tensions with Ethiopian authorities, refused to provide further details before an official report is released.

The May elections were followed by days of violence as protesters angered by allegations of fraud clashed with security forces. Human rights groups say 42 people were killed by security forces trying to disperse the crowds.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which wants an independent state for ethnic Somalis, denounced Sunday’s elections as a ploy to maintain federal control of the impoverished region.

“Ballots are being held in military compounds and in some cases these same compounds have been designated as venues for casting voting ballots, creating ample opportunity for coercion and intimidation,” the group said in a statement. “Voting ballots are readily available on the black market and there is no indication that a vast majority of polling stations will have any kind of independent monitors present.”

Results are expected Sept. 5.

On Sunday, electoral authorities were also holding a repeat of elections in 20 parliamentary constituencies where the ruling party complained of irregularities in the May vote and in 11 districts where the opposition filed challenges.

The ruling party has already won a majority, so the re-runs, like I said, don’t really matter at this point. The fraud that occurred and was witnessed by EU observers is what gave them that majority, as most of the seats won were in more rural areas where observers were not present in force. The opposition had tried to file an injunction against the re-run polls to prevent them for going ahead, but that apparently failed.

In good news, however, the capital of Addis Ababa, which is an opposition stronghold, elected opposition leader Berhanu Nega through electoral council to the position of mayor. If he serves well and brings economic and social development to the city, the opposition will get a big boost in prestige for its ability to lead. The bad news? In 2000, the city elected the mayor in a similar way, and President Meles disbanded the council, fired the mayor, and installed his own cronies into official positions. Not a cause for optimism.