Ethiopia Insight posted on 5 May 2020 a commentary titled "Ethiopian Regions Cannot Hold Elections without Federal Approval" by Markos Debebe, Policy Studies Institute.
Ethiopia's National Elections Board has announced it must postpone the August 2020 parliamentary elections because of the emergency caused by COVID-19. The regional Tigray People's Liberation Front said it will go forward with elections on schedule. The author argued that only the federal government has the power to set the election schedule.