The Ethiopian Ministry of Information said Friday all parties are expected to accept the final outcome of the May 15 national elections, since the contending parties had ample opportunities to provide adequate information to the electorate.

In a weekly statement from the ministry, it said election campaigns in other countries last a month or two.

"From this perspective, the fact that the commencement of policy and program debates and their live transmissions in our country started in September, 2004, is of profound importance to ensure that the electorate is well informed and knowledgeable," said the statement.

"What is left, after all, is the readiness to accept the final ruling of the electorate which has the right to empower or not.

It called on the contending political parties to exert maximum effort to improve the air time usage so as to benefit themselves and enlighten the public in the remaining time until the voting day.

The contending political parties have 487 hours air time to promote their policies and programs through radio and TV transmission. Not all political parties are making use of optimum use of the air time at their disposal, said the ministry.

Over 25.6 million Ethiopians are eligible to cast ballots in the upcoming elections to elect a national parliament and eight regional assemblies. The newly elected federal lawmakers will then select a prime minister.

There are 1,845 candidates representing 36 political parties and independents running for the 480 seats up for grabs in the 547- member federal parliament.

The remaining 67 MPs, who represent Ethiopia's eastern Somalia Regional State, will be chosen in elections in August.

The national elections will be only the third democratic ballot in Ethiopia. The previous elections have been convincingly won by the ruling party.

Ethiopia has a two-house parliament: the 110-seat upper House of the Federation and the 547-seat lower House of People's Representatives.