EU monitors

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has denied opposition complaints of fraud in Sunday's national election, after the country's opposition bloc Medrek accused the ruling party of rigging the vote.

"Imagine a government which has delivered double-digit growth rates for over seven years losing an election anywhere on earth. It is unheard of for such a phenomenon to happen," Meles told Reuters news agency en route to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa after casting his vote in the northern Tigray region.

Around 32 million people out of a population of 80 million were eligible to cast their vote to elect the 547-strong lower House of Representatives in sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous country. Final results are not expected for another month.

High voter turnout

The European Union's chief observer said, while there were some allegations of irregularities that still needed to be evaluated, the parliamentary vote was largely "peaceful and calm".

"In the vast majority of polling stations, the elections were well organized," the EU's chief observer Thijs Berman said.

"With this very high turnout and this peaceful and calm election, Ethiopians have shown that they want full respect of their democratic rights, full respect of their electoral laws."

The European Union deployed some 160 observers and the African Union sent 60 observers to monitor the polls. The vote comes five years after the last election in which nearly 200 people were killed. Thousands of opposition supporters were then deported following a government crackdown.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) is expected to repeat his election victory from 2005. The ruling party has been in power for the last 17 years after ousting the impoverished country's communist regime in 1991.

Jailed regime opponent

Earlier this year Human Rights Watch accused the Zenawi government of "waging a coordinated and sustained attack on political opponents, journalists, and rights activists."

"If you are not a member of the ruling party, you will get no food, seed of fertilizer," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of the New York-based human rights organization.

Human Rights Watch has called for the release of opposition leader, Birtukan Mideksa, 36, who is serving a life jail sentence. She has been dubbed "the Ethiopian Aung San Suu Kyi", in reference to Burma's detained pro-democracy activist.

Ethiopia, which borders Eritrea and Somalia, remains a key US and Western ally. Meles Zenawi is seen as a guarantor for long-term political stability in the country and the region, according to diplomatic sources in Addis Ababa.

nrt/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Nicole Goebel