Ethiopia votes: High expectations from the ruling party

Polls have opened in Ethiopia for the first general election since the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, whose successor Hailemariam Desalegn is certain to stay in office.

Nearly 37 million Ethiopians have registered to vote and they are casting their ballots at tens of thousands of polling stations across the country.

Western observers were not invited and the opposition alleges the government has used authoritarian tactics to ensure a poll victory.

Voting was going smoothly on Sunday amidst complaints of irregularities from the opposition regarding the run-up to the election.

Posters of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) dominate the capital Addis Ababa. The EPRDF has been in power for over two decades and is confident of a win, but insists the result will be decided on its economic record alone.

Ethiopia is now one of Africa's top performing economies and a magnet for foreign investment.

Rights groups, which routinely accuse Ethiopia of clamping down on opposition supporters and journalists, and of using anti-terrorism laws to silence dissent and jail critics, said on Saturday that the polls would not be free or fair due to a lack of freedom of speech.

Tsedale Lemma, editor and founder of Addis Standard, said it has not been an easy run-up to the election for the country's independent media.

"Independent media has been kept pretty much outside the engagement of the run into the election.  ... we have not been part of the process, the debates, the discourse that were held between the opposition and the government," Lemma lamented.

Addis Ababa dismisses such criticism, with government spokesman Redwan Hussein telling the AFP news agency that voters would choose their representatives based on performance.

"If they want to give us another chance they will vote for us," he said. "If they have a grudge, they will not give their vote to EPRDF."

Polls will close at 6pm (15:00 GMT) on Sunday, with initial results expected within two to five days, and final official tallies on June 22.