20100523

ADWA, Ethiopia (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Sunday he expects to win a national election thanks to his party's record on economic development and rejected opposition complaints of intimidation.

Speaking to Reuters as he flew to the capital Addis Ababa after casting his vote in the northern Tigray region, the former rebel leader said once people were in the polling booth they could vote as they pleased.

"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," he told Reuters, wearing a baseball cap and leather jacket.

In 2005, riots broke out in Addis Ababa when his ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) was declared winner. Security forces killed 193 protesters and seven policemen also died in trouble that tarnished the reputation of one of the world's biggest aid recipients.

The opposition felt it had been cheated out of victory five years ago but admits it has little chance of victory this time. It says this is because the EPRDF has tightened its grip on power and routinely intimidates and jails its critics.

The European Union's chief observer, Thijs Berman, said his impression from a visit to a polling station in the capital was "very positive" and while he had reports of irregularities from a candidate elsewhere he did not yet know how serious they were.

"I haven't seen anything that would inspire any anxiety. It is a very peaceful Sunday. People are voting, which is the most important thing to do in a democracy," he told reporters.

"NOT FREE AND FAIR"

But in the opposition stronghold of Oromia, the home of Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group with 27 million out of 80 million people, one party leader said there was absolutely no way the election could be considered fair.

"The whole game is controlled by the local administration ... as you see there are a lot of policemen in this very small village," Merera Gudina of the Oromo People's Congress (OPC) told Reuters in the village of Kolba Lincha.

"So this election is not, really, in any standard, even by African standards, it is not fair and free," he said.

Oromia is seen by analysts as key to the future of sub-Saharan Africa's second most populous nation, a country that is Washington's main ally in the region and a growing destination for foreign direct investment.

The OPC is in the eight-party coalition Medrek, or Forum, that is united chiefly by its desire to unseat Meles and is seen as the greatest threat to the EPRDF.

Medrek is running 421 candidates for the 547-seat federal parliament, not as high as the EPRDF's 521, but enough to form a clear majority should they pull off a shock win.

Meles became leader of Ethiopia in 1991 when a rebel group led by him ousted a brutal communist regime that killed hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians in a 17-year rule.

Western diplomats in Addis Ababa say they are anxious to see improvements in democracy in a secular country which is a key ally in the fight against hardline Islam in Somalia.

The 55-year-old leader, who has represented Africa at international meetings, was lionised by the West in 1991. Then U.S. President Bill Clinton called him one of a "new generation" of leaders who would bring democracy to the continent.

But Meles has increasingly been criticised by rights groups who say he is becoming more autocratic and stifles dissent in the country of 80 million people.

While there has been some violence in both Oromia and Tigray, the capital was very calm on polling day.

At the University of Addis Ababa, hundreds of students queued to vote in lecture halls. Election officials checked voting cards, put indelible ink on the thumbnail of each person and explained the party symbols on the ballot paper.

"The process is very fair and it is democratic," said Hirpa Kumela, a 21-year-old psychology student. "Yes, I'll accept the results. I'm electing legally with my own attitude."