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 ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - Ethiopia will conduct its most open election yet on Sunday, in a critical test of democracy for an African nation that has endured dictatorships, famine and poverty to become one of the United States' closest allies in Africa.
For the first time, international observers will monitor the balloting, which marks the end of a race that has tested the tolerance of a sometimes authoritarian regime that has ruled the nation since 1991. Almost everyone in the country considers Sunday's election a test of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's pledge to introduce greater democracy in the country of 70 million.
So far, the campaign has won qualified international approval. Opposition parties have had unprecedented access to the media and have staged massive rallies in the capital, Addis Ababa.
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