The chairman of the Ethiopian electoral board Kemal Bedri here on Friday encouraged all eligible voters to go to Sunday's polls to exercise their democratic rights in the east African country.

"We also encourage voters to take their time and ask questions from polling station staff who are there to assist them," said Bedri. "Our staff are trained to help people who are carrying out this important duty."

The May elections would be Ethiopia's third democratic vote. The previous two were won handily by the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The governing party and affiliated parties hold 519 out of the 547 seats in the federal parliament.

Bedri said polling station officials throughout Ethiopia are finalizing arrangements for Sunday's elections.

The election materials including ballot papers, ballot boxes and keys, voter-marking ink, posters and other materials have been distributed to some 31,000 polling stations across the country, according to the electoral board.

More than 26.5 million people have registered to vote in the two separate elections to be held Sunday to elect parliamentarians to the 547-seat House of People's Representatives and Regional councils.

Meanwhile, being the third elections in Ethiopian history since Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's EPRDF came to power in 1991, it is the first to be held under the supervision of international observers.

International observers including about 160 invited from the European Union, 50 from the US-based Carter Center, 30 from the African Union and others from China, Japan, India, Turkey and the Arab League are expected to be in place to observe the electoral process.

There are 1,845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independents running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547- member federal parliament.

The remaining 67 MPs, who represent Ethiopia's eastern Somalia Regional State, will be chosen in elections in August.

"The elections there have been deferred as the pastoralist way of life of the Somali people requires intensive use of the ( electoral) board's resources," said Bedri.