Polls have opened in Ethiopia where some 26.5 million eligible voters are casting their ballots to elect the country's federal and regional legislators.

Thirty-six parties are contesting places in the 547-seat lower House of People's Representatives. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF),the country's two major opposition parties, are challenging the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's 14 years in power.

CUD, founded in November 2004, is made up of five parties. Its chairman is US-educated economist Hailu Shawel and the All Amhara People's Organization is the alliance's core party.

Set up in July 2003, UEDF groups 15 parties. Its chairman, Merera Gudina, is professor of the prestigious Addis Ababa University. The Oromo National Congress is the alliance's core party.

The two opposition parties hope to break the government's monopoly on land ownership. They say state ownership of land causes chronic food shortages because it discourages investment by farmers, adding that farmers should be free to buy and sell land.

Both CUD and UEDF accuse the ruling party of failing to make remarkable achievements in eradicating poverty.

They hope to change the 1994 constitution that divides Ethiopia into nine ethnically-based regional states.

They object to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's five-point peace proposal towards neighboring Eritrea, saying that the Red Sea port of Assab should be seized for use by landlocked Ethiopia during the 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea.

Source: Xinhua