Backgrounder: Ethiopia's electoral system

Ethiopian voters will go to the polls on Sunday to elect federal and regional legislators since the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi-led ruling coalition party has been in power for 14 years.

The following is a brief introduction of Ethiopia's electoral system:

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was proclaimed under the constitution adopted on December 8, 1994. It is a federation of nine semi-autonomous ethnically-based states, with Addis Ababa as its capital.

Under the constitution, Ethiopia has a bicameral parliamentary system, with two federal chambers: the House of Peoples' Representatives (HPR), or the lower house, and the House of the Federation (HF), the upper house.

The HPR is the highest authority of the federal government and retains legislative powers over all matters of federal jurisdiction.

Members of the HPR are elected for five-year terms on the basis of universal suffrage by direct elections and are elected on the basis of the majority of votes cast in single-member constituencies.

The electoral system is often referred to as a "first past the post" system, under which the candidate who receives more votes than any competitors within a constituency is declared the winner.

The membership of the HPR currently stands at 547, with 22 seats reserved for representatives of minority nationalities and peoples.

The prime minister is elected from among the members of the HPR. Responsibility for the government is assumed by the political party or coalition of political parties which constitute a majority in the HRP.

Under the constitution, the 110-seat HF, the upper house of Ethiopia's bicameral system, is composed of representatives of " nations, nationalities and peoples." Each nation, nationality and people is represented by at least one member, with each nation or nationality represented by one additional representative per each one million of its population.

Members of the HF are chosen by their respective regional councils. Alternatively, the constitution provides for the regional councils to order direct elections to the upper house, but this option has in practice never been exercised and there is no legislation at regional level providing for direct elections of representatives of the HF.

The two federal level houses combine to choose the president of the federation who is the head of state. The president has mainly honorary powers and serves a six-year term.

Administratively, Ethiopia's nine states are divided into 70 zones. The zones are comprised of 600 wereda (districts), and these are divided into approximately 28,000 communities. The constitution provides for up to 550 constituencies, although currently there are 547.