Millions of Ethiopians voted yesterday in parliamentary polls expected to give Prime Minister Meles Zenawi?s ruling coalition a third five-year term. The election, only the second real multi-party contest in Africa?s top coffee producer, will test how democratic the country has become since Meles toppled dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991 ending 17 years of Marxist rule.

Opposition parties advocating a bigger role for free markets in the Horn of Africa country of 72 million have set aside their ethnic differences for the first time, pledging to unite if it means winning a majority in the 547-seat national assembly. But many analysts say a victory over Meles?s dominant Ethiopian People?s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is unlikely, given the opposition currently holds a mere 20 seats. The run-up to the election has been marred by opposition allegations that the EPRDF is trying to rig the result. The government denies this.

In Addis Ababa the stream of voters swelled throughout the morning at polling stations dotted among its mist-shrouded hills as church services ended and worshippers turned up to vote. At the capital?s Gullele subdistrict voters traded jokes and gossiped as they waited their turn, cheering a bride and groom resplendent in wedding dress who arrived to cast their ballots. ?Although it is my wedding day, I don?t want to miss the opportunity to vote,? said the groom, Adane Abdi, 30.

A 25-year-old student Tirsit Kaffa said : ?We are happy. It?s the first time for democracy in Ethiopia and we are voting for change.? In rural areas voters arrived at polling stations flying the green, yellow and red national flag.

<B>Spectre of ethnic bloodshed </B>

In Dukem village 35 km south of Addis, Kedja, 50, an illiterate peasant woman dressed in traditional white shawl and robe, said she knew nothing of the opposition. ?I will vote for the government,? she said, lining up at a tin-roofed mud building serving as a polling station. ?I am not aware of any opposition parties. I just know the government.?

Bereft of experience at the polls and subject to what they call harassment by ruling party cadres, opposition candidates have yet to mobilise grassroots support in rural areas, which is critical to their success, diplomats and analysts say.

Nor does the opposition have a clear leading personality to challenge former guerrilla chief Meles, whose tough speeches have compared the opposition to Rwanda?s ethnic Hutu Interahamwe militias and raised the spectre of ethnic bloodshed.

<B>?There is no freedom in the elections?

The opposition in sub-Saharan Africa?s second most populous nation has accused the EPRDF of hassling and arresting supporters and has vowed to reject the results unless the harassment stops. The government denies the charges. Former US President Jimmy Carter, heading an observer mission from his Carter Center, told reporters he had visited 12 stations and found ?very long lines of people waiting pleasantly?. But he added that his team was probing reports that 450 ballots had been marked before voting began.

He said there had been positive developments in the election process. ?Even opposition leaders we?ve met with have emphasized dramatic improvements in this country, the openness of the campaign.? But law student Tariku Jiru, who was among those listening to Carter, said he was disillusioned. ?I?m very pessimistic because there?s no freedom in the elections. We?ve seen (opposition) observers arrested. I?ll vote but I?m still pessimistic.?

The main opposition coalitions say they would create jobs by freeing up the state-controlled economy through privatisation and ending state ownership of land, Ethiopia?s greatest asset. The government insists the state must own land, arguing it gives more security to farmers. Official results are due on June 8.

<B>Tsegaye TADESSE Katie NGUYEN</B>

KEY ISSUES

<B>The foundations of a nation </B>

■ Thirty-five parties will contest seats in the assembly, currently dominated by Meles?s Ethiopian Peoples? Revolutionary Democratic Front. Ethiopia covers 1,130,138 sq km, bordering Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Djibouti and Somalia to the east and Eritrea to the northeast. Its population adds up to 72 million in 2004, with a growth rate of 2.36 percent. About half are Muslim and half Ethiopian Orthodox Christian. The strength of its armed forces was estimated at about 156,000 in 2003 after the government began a major demobilisation programme following a peace accord with Eritrea in 2000. The gross Domestic Product (GDP) during 2004 was about $8 billion, with per capita GDP at $114. The economy is based on agriculture, which accounts for nearly half of GDP and 80 percent of total employment. Ethiopia ranked 170 in the UN?s 2004 Human Development Index of 177 countries. Famine killed up to 1.2 million people in 1984-85.