A small crowd of supporters enthusiastically greeted Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as he arrived at the polling station in Adwa . The town of Adwa, located about 25 kilometers east of the ancient city of Axum , is also the prime minister's birthplace. Meles is seeking his third five-year term in office. His ruling party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has been in power for 14 years. During that time, the party has not been challenged in this mostly poor, subsistence farming region. Hailu Shawel, the head of Ethiopia's opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy, cast his vote in an opposition stronghold south of the capital Addis Ababa . Shawl says that in his opinion the balloting has not been the model of democracy that people had hoped for. For the first time, more than 300 international observers, including 150 from the European Union and 50 from the U.S.-based Carter Center , are in Ethiopia to monitor the elections. They fanned out before dawn to visit some of the 31,000 polling stations set up throughout the country.
A small crowd of supporters enthusiastically greeted Prime Minister Meles Zenawi as he arrived at the polling station in . The town of Adwa, located about 25 kilometers east of the ancient city of , is also the prime minister's birthplace. Meles is seeking his third five-year term in office. His ruling party, the (EPRDF), has been in power for 14 years. During that time, the party has not been challenged in this mostly poor, subsistence farming region. Hailu Shawel, the head of Ethiopia's opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy, cast his vote in an opposition stronghold south of the capital . Shawl says that in his opinion the balloting has not been the model of democracy that people had hoped for. For the first time, more than 300 international observers, including 150 from the and 50 from the U.S.-based , are in Ethiopia to monitor the elections. They fanned out before dawn to visit some of the 31,000 polling stations set up throughout the country.
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Adwa
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Axum
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Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
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Addis Ababa
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European Union
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Carter Center