World Bulletin / News Desk 

Ethiopian voters have started to flock to polling stations across the country to elect a new parliament as well as regional state councils.

"We can confirm that voting has begun in all polling stations throughout the nation,” Demissew Benti, spokesperson for the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE), told. "All is going smoothly so far," he added.

The polling stations opened 6.00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) at some 45,000 polling stations across the country.

Some 36.8 million voters, including 17.8 million females, are registered to cast votes in the elections.

Fifty-eight political parties are competing for the 547 seat parliament and regional state councils. The parties have fielded a total of 5,819 candidates.

The ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which won the past four elections, has fielded a total of 1,350 candidates – many more than any of the country's opposition parties.

In Addis Ababa, the nation’s political center and seat of the African Union, long queues of voters, mostly females, were seen outside the polling stations even before the beginning of the vote.

Some 274 candidates are running in the capital city which has a 3.5 million population and is represented by seats in the parliament.

In the densely populated area of Ferensay, Seifu Demiss was the first voter to cast his ballot.

"There are many people who arrived earlier, but I asked them to vote first because I have to go to work," he told Anadolu Agency. "I hope we will get better leadership in this election," he said.

In Sululta on outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ayele Daba, a farmer, said he voted for the party which he believed will "help to increase productivity".

Dagne, a taxi driver who refrained to give his second name, on his part, said that he voted for an opposition party. "I believe that the opposition Blue/Semayawi Party will improve taxi business and work for an evenly distribution of wealth," he said.

In Arbaminch town of South Ethiopia Peoples’ State, 447 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, it was 106-year-old Baysas Bachole who cast the first vote.

"I am proud to be here to vote along with my children," Baysas, a father of 21 and grandfather of 46, told Anadolu Agency.