ADDIS ABABA (Xinhuanet) — The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) said Friday that 55 political parties would be contesting in the upcoming national elections scheduled to be held on May 15.

Mekonnen Wondimu, acting registrar of political party registration office with the board, said existing and new political parties have been certified to run for the elections.

He said 27 regional and national political parties have fielded candidates for the May elections.

Mekonnen said the contending political parties and candidates have already begun election campaign via the mass media and other platforms.

The general elections will be the third democratic ballot in the history of Ethiopia, the only African country that had not been colonized.

The previous elections have been convincingly won by the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.

More than 25 million of Ethiopia’s 70 million people have registered to vote and voter registration continues until the end of February